Visiting Writers Series

Visiting Writers 2011–12

All readings free and open to the public.

Kevin Pilkington
Oct. 6, 2011 |  7:30 p.m.  |  Isaacs Auditorium

Author of six collections, one of which, Spare Change, was the La Jolla Poets Press National Book Award Winner. His poems and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines including: Poetry, Iowa Review, North American Review, Gulf Coast, and Yankee. His newest collection, The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree, was published in 2011by Black Lawrence Press.  

James Galvin
Oct. 27, 2011  |  7:30 p.m.  |  Isaacs Auditorium

Author of six collections of poetry, most recently, As Is, the critically acclaimed prose book, The Meadow, and a novel, Fencing the Sky. Resurrection Update, Collected Poems, 1975-1997 was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and the Poet’s Prize. For more than 30 years, Galvin has been crafting poems that convey a profound sense of place, capturing both the harshness and beauty of the rural American West.

 

Danielle Evans

Nov. 7, 2011  |  7:30 p.m.  |  Isaacs Auditorium

Author of the short-story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by Kirkus Reviews and O Magazine, won an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway award, and was longlisted for The Story Prize. Her work has appeared in magazines such as The Paris Review, A Public Space, Callaloo, and Phoebe, has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2008 and 2010, and in New Stories from the South.

Joy Castro
Feb. 20, 2012   |  4:30 p.m.  |  Degenstein Center Theater

Named one of 2009's Best New Latino Authors, Joy’s short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction have appeared in several anthologies and in journals such as North American Review, Cream City Review, Chelsea, Quarterly West, and Puerto del Sol. Her first book, The Truth Book: A Memoir, was adapted and excerpted in The New York Times Magazine. She recently completed a collection of short stories, How Winter Began, and is working on a novel, The Desire Projects.

Stewart O'Nan
March 29, 2012  |  7:30 p.m.  |  Isaacs Auditorium

Award winning author of a collection of short stories, nonfiction, manuscripts, a screenplay, and 13 novels, one of which, Snow Angels, was adapted for a film of the same name by David Gordon Green which starred Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. His nonfiction work, Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season, was written with Stephen King. His latest novel Emily Alone, is his first book since moving to Pittsburgh, and features the city as its backdrop.

Jennifer Perrine
April 16, 2012  |  7:30 p.m.  |  Isaacs Auditorium

A 2000 graduate of Susquehanna, Jennifer’s first collection of poems, The Body Is No Machine, won the 2008 Devil's Kitchen Reading Award in Poetry. Her second book, In the Human Zoo, received the 2010 Agha Shahid Ali Prize. She currently teaches at Drake University.

Past Visiting Writers have included:

• Lee K. Abbott
• Rick Bass
• Richard Bausch 
• Madison Smartt Bell
• Eavan Boland
• Robert Boswell 
• David Bradley
• Fleda Brown
• Frederick Busch 
• Rafael Campo
• Lorene Cary
• Dan Chaon
• Judith Ortiz Cofer
• Billy Collins
• Bernard Cooper
• Robert Cording
• Robert Creeley
• Fred D'Aguiar
• Charles D’Ambrosio
• Lydia Davis
• Andre Dubus III
• Stephen Dunn
• Lynn Emanuel
• Carolyn Forché
• Tom Franklin
• Cristina Garcia
• Dagoberto Gilb
• Louise Glück
• Ron Hansen
• Joy Harjo
• James Harms
• Colin Harrison
• Larry Heinemann
• Brian Hanry
• Edward Hirsch
• Tony Hoagland
• Ha Jin
• Rodney Jones
• Mary Karr
• Jill McCorkle
• James Alan McPherson
• Sue Miller
• Antonya Nelson
• Sharon Olds
• Tom Perrotta
• Jayne Anne Phillips
• Andrew Porter
• Claudia Rankine 
• Nick Ripatrazone 
• Richard Rodriguez
• Esmeralda Santiago
• Bob Shacochis
• Enid Shomer
• Rachel Simon
• Art Spiegelman
• Gerald Stern
• Jay Varner ’03 
• John Vernon
• G.C. Waldrep
• Nancy Willard
• Tobias Wolff 
• Steve Yarbrough