Ms. Conner's prose and poetry have appeared in books such as Teaching Writing from the Writer's Point of View and Fifty Years of West Virginia Poetry. Her poetry has also been featured on the West Virginia state calendar and was recently chosen by the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to be featured on a specially-commissioned broadside. She serves as a writer-in-residence for the Ohio Arts Council.

As a performer, Ms. Conner portrays Margaret Blennerhassett and Emily Dickinson for the West Virginia and the Ohio Humanities Councils. In January 2003, she portrayed Margaret Blennerhassett in Charlottesville, Va., for the National Commemorative Celebration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Later this year, she will debut a new character, writer and artist Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of Jazz Age novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Ms. Conner is a graduate of Parkersburg Community College and the University of Virginia. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College.

Barb McCullough is a Master Teacher in secondary English, with national certification earned in 1999. Her poetry was published in Best of West Virginia Writers 1950 - 2000. Her consulting work has allowed travel to Finland, Russia, France, Edmonton and Toronto in Canada, as well as Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, and the Amazon region in Brazil. She worked with students in Beijing and Inner Mongolia to create a sister school connection with Jackson Junior High School, where she is a faculty member. With husband Dave Cress and daughter Megan, the family mentors foreign exchange students who attend Marietta College. She is currently a master’s student in the liberal learning program at Marietta College, with a focus on gender studies and leadership.

"Local Color" is part of the Humanities Speakers Series at WVU Parkersburg. It is made possible in part by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council. Further information is available by contacting Rebecca Phillips, Speakers Series chair, at (304) 424-8282.