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A Walters State English professor is making news for her out-of-the-classroom poetry.

Kelsey Solomon, assistant professor of English, received the 2024 George Scarbrough Prize for Poetry from Lincoln Memorial University’s Mountain Heritage Literary Festival. The prize is named for the late LMU alumnus and highly acclaimed poet. 

Solomon submitted three poems: “Lost Reader,” “Abraham at Mossy Creek” and “For a Living.”

“Kelsey Solomon’s latest award further reinforces that she continues to earn the respect of her poet peers across the region, and the honor further solidifies this published poet’s reputation as a creative force in her academic discipline,” said Robert E. Pratt, II  dean of the Humanities Division at Walters State. “Our college previously honored Ms. Solomon by naming her Distinguished Faculty Member, the college’s highest award for teaching excellence, and we’re pleased to see her own work honored even as she continually excels in helping our students discover their voices as writers.”

Solomon has been writing poetry seriously since she was 19. At that time, she was a Walters State student. She credits her freshman and sophomore English teachers for encouraging her writing ventures: Sarah Eichelman and Steve Alcorn, both retired associate professors of English, Chip McLain, associate professor of English, and Carla Todaro, associate professor of English. Solomon further developed her writing skills while studying under Susan Underwood, retired Carson-Newman University professor, and Jessie Graves, writer in residence at East Tennessee University.

While she doesn’t sit down every day with the intention of writing, Solomon is thinking about writing throughout the day.

“I will jot down anything interesting that comes to mind, maybe a phrase I like or a grouping of words,” Solomon said. “When I do sit down to write, I will pull that list of words or ideas as a launching pad.”

Solomon is often inspired by events and happenings in her own life. That is true of the three poems recognized with the Scarbrough Prize.

“I wrote ‘Lost Reader’ in 2017 when I was missing the community of graduate school, ‘Abraham at Mossy Creek’ during the pandemic when I read Soren Kierkegaard’s interpretation of the Abraham and Isaac story in the Old Testament, and ‘For a Living’ just this past April after a stranger at an Easter gathering asked me, ‘What do you do for a living?’” Solomon said.

“I chose these three poems because when set side-by-side, I saw a narrative of being lost and found in these three poems when placed together,” Solomon said, “movement between the truth and a lie.”

Three different Solomon poems were published in the summer edition of “Still: The Journal.” These poems can be read at www.stilljournal.net.

For the Hamblen County native, writing can be like therapy.
“Writing allows you to get the best and worst of yourself out of your system,” she said.

That is one reason Solomon is quick to encourage her students and others to pursue writing in one form or the other, be it poetry, fiction or nonfiction.

“I encourage writers to go outside of their comfort zone. Find honest readers who will give honest feedback. Learn to be a good critic so you can better edit your own work,” Solomon said. “Don’t throw anything away either. When I write, I know I am writing the first draft of a poem. If I keep it, I can go back through and see the changes when I’ve edited or added. Doing so holds me accountable for how the poem transforms.”

Solomon said this area has a supportive writing community and she encourages writers to take classes either through a college program or through workshops and conferences like Walters State’s Mildred Haun Conference, held each February, the Creative Writing Festival at ETSU in the spring, and LMU’s Mountain Heritage Festival, held each summer.

“You’ll learn from the classes and you’ll meet other writers with the same heart as you,” Solomon said.