MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — As part of National Women’s History Month activities, the Middle Tennessee State University Center for Historic Preservation will host author Danielle Chapman, a lecturer at Yale University,for a free public lecture this week.

The event will take place at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at the MT Center in the Sam H. Ingram Building, 2269 Middle Tennessee Blvd. Free parking is available in the Ingram Building lot.

She will read from her memoir, “Holler: A Poet Among Patriots,” and discuss the art of nonfiction and creative writing with Fred Arrayo, an associate professor in the Department of English at MTSU.

Her poems have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation and Poetry. Two chapters from her recently published book were published in The Oxford American, a prestigious quarterly magazine that focuses on the rural South.

For the past decade, she has lectured at Yale University and currently teaches Shakespeare and the Craft of Writing Poetry, a hybrid literature and creative writing course.

Chapman, whose poignant memoir was published in 2023, spent summers as a child at her family’s antebellum home in rural Bedford County, Tennessee, located about an hour outside of Nashville.

There, Chapman encounters her family’s connection to the Confederacy and the influence of her grandfather’s military ties, forcing her to confront America’s racism and its wars.

She now owns the home and has worked closely with MTSU students and the Center for Historic Preservation to restore and preserve it and the stories of all the residents — including the enslaved.

Later this year, her second book of poems, “Boxed Juice,” will be published.

Following Arrayo’s conversation with Chapman, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase.

The event is sponsored by the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area and the Center for Historic Preservation.

More Women’s History Month events at MTSU

More upcoming Women’s History Month events at MTSU:

• National Women’s History Month Craft Night Pickup: Board and Brush, 9-11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, March 18, 19 and 20, Student Union Building, Room 330, 1768 MTSU Blvd.

• MTSU Department of Social Work will host “Human Trafficking: Putting a Name to My Face” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, in Academic Classroom Building Room 104, 1751 MTSU Blvd.

• Women’s History Month keynote speaker Rebekah Taussig will share her story at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in the Student Union Ballroom, 1768 MTSU Blvd.

For more details about other events, visit the Women’s History Month calendar, or visit https://mtsu.edu/jac/ and click the National Women’s History Month tab.

Off-campus visitors planning to attend daytime activities during the month can obtain a temporary permit from the Parking and Transportation Services office at 205 City View Drive or print a visitor pass at https://mtsu.t2hosted.com. Visitor permits are $2 per day. A parking map and more information is available at https://mtsu.edu/parking/.

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)