UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Renowned writer Matthew Ferrence will offer a reading as part of this year’s Mary E. Rolling Reading Series at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, in Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium at Penn State University Park. The reading is free and open to the public.
Ferrence, who grew up nearby in Indiana County, is the author of “I Hate It Here, Please Vote For Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay,” published by West Virginia University Press in 2024, which includes essays focused on showing goats at the county fair, planting native grasses in the front lawn, the political power of poetry and getting wiped out in an election in Crawford County. Ferrence offers a counter-narrative to stereotypes of monolithic rural American voters and emphasizes the way stories told about rural America are a source for the bitter divide between "Red America" and "Blue America."
Ferrence is the author of two other books, which together with “I Hate it Here” form a trilogy, of sorts, about rural American politics. “Appalachia North: a memoir” explores exiles of self and region, precipitated by the curious cultural position of being from northern Appalachia and by the difficult personal reckoning that comes in the aftermath of the diagnosis and treatment of a brain tumor. “All-American Redneck” traces the literary origins and political implications of the American “redneck” figure.
Ferrence’s essays have appeared in literary magazines across North America, including The Fiddlehead, Gettysburg Review, and Best American Travel Writing 2018. He teaches writing and literature at Allegheny College.
The Mary E. Rolling Reading Series is a program offered by Penn State’s Creative Writing Program in English with additional support from the College of the Liberal Arts; the Department of English; the Joseph L. Grucci Poetry Endowment; the Mary E. Rolling Lectureship in Creative Writing; and University Libraries. A full list of readings in the 2025-26 series can be found at creativewriting.psu.edu.