The Robert L. Palmer Memorial Lecture

This lecture series commemorates the many years of dedicated service of Dr. Robert Palmer to Cumberland College . Dr. Palmer loved and respected the power of the written word to please and to instruct. His great joy in teaching derived from his own ability to communicate to students an enthusiasm for the beauty and efficacy of language. Dr. Palmer loved his students. And through his gentle, steady manner he taught them well.

As a teacher, as an active participant in his church and community, as a devoted husband and father, Dr. Palmer lived his life well. In his memory and with the generous assistance of the endowment established by his family, the English Department of Cumberland College is committed to bring to campus those authors we believe Dr. Palmer would have enjoyed reading and hearing.

Previous Palmer Lecturers

2004
Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003:

2003
Ron Rash:

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998
Dr. John Killinger:

1997

1996
Jeff Daniel Marion: Out in the Country, Back Home; Tight Lines; Vigils; and Lost & Found

1995
Denise Giardina: Storming Heaven (1988), The Unquiet Earth (1992)

1994
Willie Morris: North Toward Home (1967), Good Old Boy (1980), Terrains of the Heart (1981), Always Stand in Against the Curve (1983)

1993
Jim Wayne Miller: His First, Best Country, The Mountains Have Come Closer (1980), Newfound (1990)

1992
Lee Smith: Black Mountain Breakdown (1980), Oral History (1983), Fair and Tender Ladies (1988), The Devil's Dream (1992), Saving Grace (1995)