Creative Writers Reading Series
Smith Creative Writers Reading Series
Celebrated writers of poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction visit campus several times each year to give lectures, readings, discussions, and book signings. Visiting author readings are held at 6:00 p.m. (preceded by receptions at 5:30 p.m.) in the Smith Chapel. All events are free and open to the public. Presented with the support of the Clarence A. and Eugenie Baumann Smith Fund.
Matthew Ferrence, literary nonfiction author, will visit Penn State Behrend on January 31, 2019, as part of the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series.
January 31 – Matthew Ferrence, Literary Fiction
Matthew Ferrence's new memoir, Appalachia North, addresses the curious confluence of Northern Appalachian identity and brain tumor recovery. His prose has appeared widely in North American literary journals, including Gettysburg Review and The Fiddlehead, and has recently appeared in the 2018 Best American Travel Writing. As an associate professor of English at Allegheny College, he teaches courses in creative nonfiction and literature and also serves as chair of the English Department.
David Baker, poet, will visit Penn State Behrend on April 4, 2019, as part of the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series.
April 4 – David Baker, Poet
David Baker is author of twelve books of poetry, most recently Swift: New and Selected Poems (forthcoming, W. W. Norton), Scavenger Loop (2015, Norton) and Never-Ending Birds (Norton), which won the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize in 2011. His six books of prose include Show Me Your Environment: Essays on Poetry, Poets, and Poems (Michigan, 2014) and, with Ann Townsend, Radiant Lyre: Essays on Lyric Poetry (Graywolf, 2007). Among his awards are prizes and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Society of America, and Society of Midland Authors. He holds the Thomas B. Fordham Chair at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and is Poetry Editor of The Kenyon Review.
Deb Olin Unferth, fiction author, will visit Penn State Behrend on April 18, 2019, as part of the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series.
April 19 – Deb Olin Unferth, Fiction
Deb Olin Unferth is the author of five books, including the story collection Wait Till You See Me Dance. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, The Paris Review, Granta, Vice, Tin House, The New York Times, NOON, and McSweeney’s. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship, a Creative Capital grant, three Pushcart Prizes, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An associate professor at the University of Texas in Austin, she also runs Pen-City Writers, a creative writing program at the John B. Connally Unit, a penitentiary in southern Texas.
Previous Visiting Authors
Previous visiting authors have included: Jared Yates Sexton, Jen Town, Henrietta Goodman, Melissa Fraterrigo, Karen Craigo, Corey Zeller, Al Maginnes, John Gallaher, Wendell Mayo, Lia Purpura, Paisley Rekdal, Caitlin Horrocks, Robert Michael Pyle, Alice Friman, John Minichillo, Laura Kaschsiske, Thom Conroy, Sarah Gerkensmeyer, Heather Slomski, Elizabeth Kadetsky, Katie Ford, Michael Byers, Charles Baxter, and many more.