In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Milligan Arts Council will host award-winning poet Jane Hicks for a reading and book signing of her forthcoming collection, The Safety of Small Things (The University Press of Kentucky, January 2024). A native of East Tennessee, Hicks retired after a distinguished career as an educator. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Southern Poetry Anthology: Contemporary Appalachia, Coal: An Anthology, Iron Mountain Review, and Red Crow Review, among others. The Safety of Small Things is her third collection of poetry. Both her first volume, Blood & Bone Remember (2005), and her 2014 collection Driving with the Dead received the prestigious James Still Award for Poetry from the Appalachian Writers Association. Also a celebrated fiber artist, Hicks’s “literary quilts” illustrate the works of playwright Jo Carson as well as novelists Sharyn McCrumb and Silas House. This is a free event with dessert and coffee provided.