The Randolph Arts Guild will host writer Joseph Bathanti Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Bathanti is currently a professor of creative writing at Appalachian State University. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, he has bachelor's and master's degrees in English literature from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as an MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College.

What started as visiting North Carolina as a VISTA volunteer opportunity in 1976 has grown into calling N.C. home, while having numerous published works of fiction and poetry.

Bathanti's works have appeared in The Cincinnati Review, The Progressive, Manhattan Poetry Review, The Nebraska Review, Carolina Quarterly,The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Louisiana Literature, The Sun, The Texas Review, California Quarterly, Southern Humanities Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, South Carolina Review and many others.

Bathanti's writing often references gritty working class narratives set in the mid-20th century and spirituality with a tinge of magical realism.

He has been awarded the Oscar Arnold Young Award from The North Carolina Poetry Council for best book of poems by a North Carolina writer, "Land of Amnesia," from Press 53 in 2009 and the 2010 Roanoke Chowan Prize, awarded annually by the N.C. Literary and Historical Association for "Restoring Sacred Art."

His collection of short stories, "The High Heart," winner of the 2006 Spokane Prize, was published by Eastern Washington University Press in fall 2007. Bathanti is also the recipient of Literature Fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council in 2009 for fiction.

His lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the Sarah Smith Self Gallery located in the W.H. Moring Arts Center, 123 Sunset Ave., in downtown Asheboro.

"The event is free, and the public is encouraged to attend," says a spokesman.

From 3 to 5 p.m. that day, Bathanti will also lead a Master Class in poetry writing.

This class welcomes experienced poets, as well as those just starting out. Workshop participants will consider various poems serving as examples of craft, voice, narrative strategies and voice.

Key elements of poetry will be discussed such as compressed, often impressionistic language; rhythm; stylized line and stanza breaks; -attention to sound; the -occasion of the poem; and the dramatic situation that inspired it. Students should bring 10 copies of an original poem. Preregistration and payment of $20 are due by Sept. 14.

For more information and to register for the master class, call the Randolph Arts Guild at (336) 629-0399, or visit the Guild in Asheboro at 123 Sunset Ave.