In Conversation: Valerie Smith & Monica Lee Weatherly

We welcome Valerie Smith & Monica Lee Weatherly to The Notebooks Collective in August. We are thrilled to have these two poet-educators join us to talk about working in community, sharing cultural histories, and the importance of place.

Valerie writes, “I am thrilled to be In Conversation with the community of writers and teachers because it underscores how we learn better together and write better together. Monica and I share cultural histories. I recognize a deep connection to family in her collection, It Felt Like Mississippi. It is wonderful to share with others how our individual journeys influence our poems.”

Monica adds, “I am looking forward to being in conversation with Valerie because her work resonates with my love for the role of ‘place’ in poetry.  Her book, Back to Alabama, is not just about a geographical place, but an emotional and spiritual space that a landscape can transport a reader to.  Valerie has a way of using her voice and memory to give a place identity.  She takes small moments and makes them matter.  We have shared creative spaces before, in a poetry reading and workshop, and each time, I’ve come away with a renewed admiration for her.”

Valerie A. Smith

Valerie A. Smith is the author of Back to Alabama, a deep, transformative examination of the Black American narrative, from Sundress Publications. She is the 2024 Solstice MFA Spotlight Poet and a 2024 ETSU Emerging Writer. Her poems appear in Ekstasis, South Carolina Review, Aunt Chloe, Weber, Obsidian, Dogwood, Solstice, Oyster River Pages, and Wayne Literary Review. She has a PhD from Georgia State University and a MA from Kennesaw State University where she teaches English. Above all, she values spending quality time with her family.

Monica Lee Weatherly

Monica Lee Weatherly is a poet, writer, and Professor of English at Georgia State University (Perimeter College). She is the 2023 winner of Georgia Author of the Year for her chapbook of poetry, It Felt Like Mississippi, a 2023 Key West Literary Seminar Fellowship recipient, and the 2021 winner of the Willie Morris Prize for Southern Poetry. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Tulane Review, Plainsongs Magazine, Nzuri Journal, Merge Literary Magazine, Obsidian, South Florida Poetry Journal, and Auburn Avenue. Her writing often focuses on the culture and experiences of people of color in the American South.