2009-10 Writers Series
The University of Richmond’s Department of English has announced that it will bring eight writers to campus during the 2009-2010 academic year for its annual Writers Series.
The series is designed to expose Richmond students and the greater university community to living writers. The readings and talks are always free and open to the general public. Most writers make themselves available, following their appearance, to answer questions from the audience and sign copies of their books.
Colson Whitehead, American novelist
Tuesday, September 22 at 7 p.m.
Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
Colson Whitehead, the 2009 Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at the University of Richmond, is the author of five award-winning novels, including The Intuitionist, Apex Hides the Hurt, and most recently Sag Harbor. His novel, John Henry Days, won the New York Public Library Young Lions Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Formerly a pop culture critic for The Village Voice, Whitehead’s journalism has appeared in Newsday, Spin, Vibe, The New York Times, Harper’s, and Salon. In 2002, he was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant. As John Updike put it, Whitehead’s “work does what writing should do; it refreshes our sense of the world.” In fall 2009, he will be teaching two creative writing courses in the University of Richmond's Department of English.
A.S. Byatt, British novelist and critic
Wednesday, October 14 at 8 p.m.
Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
Already a formidable literary figure in England, A.S. Byatt achieved best-seller status in the United States in 1990 with her Booker Prize-winning novel Possession: A Romance, a story about a clandestine love affair between two Victorian writers and the two modern-day academics who unearth their secret. Her novella Morpho Eugenia, in which she examines the similarities between anthills and 19th century manor households, was made into the film "Angels and Insects”. Byatt’s other fiction includes The Biographer’s Tale, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, The Matisse Stories, and a quartet of novels about the 1950s and 1960s (The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower and A Whistling Woman). In 1999 she was made a Dame of the British Empire, an honor which recognized her work as a writer and her overall service and contributions to the United Kingdom. A distinguished critic and regular contributor to many British and American newspapers, Byatt has also served as a judge of various literary prizes, including the Booker Prize. Her latest novel, The Children’s Book, will be published in October 2009.
Kevin Young, American poet and critic
Tuesday, October 27 at 7 p.m.
Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
Kevin Young is widely regarded as one of the leading poets of his generation, one who finds meaning and inspiration in African American music, particularly the blues, and in the bittersweet history of Black America. He was a 1993 National Poetry Series winner for Most Way Home, which also received the John C. Zacharis First Book Award of Ploughshares magazine. Other collections include To Repel Ghosts: Five Sides in B Minor (2001), a poetic tribute to painter and graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jelly Roll: A Blues (2003), a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Along with his books, Young's poems and prose have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, and Callaloo. Currently a professor of poetry at Emory University, his latest book is Dear Darkness (Knopf, 2008). A conversation with Colson Whitehead will follow Young’s poetry reading.
Jane Yolen, American children’s book writer
Monday, November 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Alice Haynes Room, Tyler Haynes Commons
Jane Yolen is perhaps best known for her children’s picture books in the How Do Dinosaurs… series, illustrated by Mark Teague. Her earlier picture book, Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr, won the Caldecott Medal in 1988. Adult readers may recognize her for her time-travel fantasy novel, The Devil’s Arithmetic, which was awarded the Jewish Book Council Award and was a Nebula award finalist. Yolen is also a prolific reteller of traditional tales (including her award-winning novel, Briar Rose) and has written extensively on writing. Her nonfiction books include Take Joy: A Book for Writers and Touch Magic: Fantasy, Faerie and Folklore in the Literature of Childhood. Yolen’s talk is entitled, "Writing and the Three Rs: Reveal, Revision, Reinvention.” Her talk, this year’s Cathleen Mallaney Trees Lecture, is cosponsored by the Cultural Affairs Committee, the Booker Chair in Religion and Ethics, and the University of Richmond's Department of Education.
Marjorie Perloff, American poetry critic
Wednesday, February 3 at 7 p.m.
Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
Marjorie Perloff is the author of 13 books and a few hundred essays and reviews on twentieth century poetry and poetics and visual arts. Her books include Radical Artifice: Writing in the Age of Media, The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage, Frank O’Hara: Poet Among Painters, Twenty-First Century Modernism, and Wittgenstein's Ladder: Poetic Language and the Strangeness of the Ordinary. She also has published a cultural memoir, The Vienna Paradox. She has lectured at most major universities in the U.S. and throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Perloff has held Guggenheim, NEH, and Huntington fellowships, served as President of the Modern Language Association, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is Sadie D. Patek Professor Emerita of Humanities at Stanford University.
David Shields, American prose writer
Monday, March 22, 7 p.m.
Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
David Shields's most recent book, The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead, (Knopf, 2008), was a New York Times bestseller. He is the author of eight previous books, including Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity, winner of the PEN/Revson Award; and Dead Languages: A Novel, winner of the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. Shields has received a Guggenheim fellowship, two NEA fellowships, and an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, among others. He teaches in the English department at the University of Washington. His new book, Reality Hunger: a Manifesto, will be published by Knopf in January 2010. The title of his talk is "Genre is a Minimum-Security Prison."
Gillian Conoley, American poet
Wednesday, March 31 at 7 p.m.
Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
Gillian Conoley has published seven books of poetry, including Tall Stranger, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Profane Halo. Her most recent book, The Plot Genie, uses a 1930’s how-to book for pulp fiction writers as its foundation. A recipient of several Pushcart Prizes and an NEA fellowship, she teaches at Sonoma State University in California and edits Volt magazine.
Rae Armantrout, American poet
Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m.
Brown-Alley Room, Weinstein Hall
Rae Armantrout has published 11 books of poetry, most recently Versed. Her book Next Life was a New York Times Notable Book of 2007. An original member of the Language Poets, Armantrout’s work has gained increasing acceptance in recent years, appearing not only in magazines and anthologies associated with experimental writing, but also in The New Yorker, The Oxford Book of American Poetry, and numerous volumes of The Best American Poetry. She also has published a memoir, True, and a volume of collected prose. She teaches at the University of California-San Diego.