Pens, Paints, and Creations

Poetry and Visual Art Event and Exhibition featuring poet Angela Ball and artists Emma French Connolly, Francis Lee, Susan Walck, Taryn Larremore Holzinger, and Thomas Jackson This figurative exhibition features a dynamic group of artists, complemented by engaging poetry that invites creative exploration. Angela Ball’s poems, translations, and essays have appeared in Poetry, Oxford American, The Paris Review, Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, North American Review, The New Yorker, Field, Colorado Review, The New Republic, The Bennington Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently Talking Pillow. She will read poems from her new poetry collection Steeplechase, which is forthcoming in February and was recently named one of the most anticipated poetry books of 2026 by LitHub. Presented with support from Forrest County and the Montague Fund for the Arts About Angela Ball Angela Ball’s poems, translations, and essays have appeared in Poetry, Oxford American, The Paris Review, Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, North American Review, The New Yorker, Field, Colorado Review, The New Republic, The Bennington Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently Steeplechase, published in February 2026 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. The recipient of an Individual Artist’s Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, she teaches in the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where she lives with her dogs, Miss Bishop and Boy. About Emma French Connolly Emma Connolly has led a diverse creative life, making her first doll at age 8. With educational backgrounds in Psychology and Theology, and certificates in Family Systems and Reality Therapy, she served for many years as Episcopal clergy, chaplain, and workshop leader in church settings. Emma served in Memphis for 10 years, and while there, she created WriteMemphis, a non-profit creative writing program for inner…