UC Visiting Writers Series resumes Friday
Sarah Anne Strickley and Brian Brodeur make their first appearance as the series continues
By Benjamin Harrison
University of Cincinnati’s Visiting Writer’s Series continues Friday with author Sarah Anne Strickley and poet Brian Brodeur. Together they will be doing the only combined reading of the semester. The Department of English always has one joint reading per year where a poet and fiction writer read together for 20-25 minutes.
Sponsored by the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, the series is free to faculty, students and the public thanks to Schiff Fund for Contemporary Arts and Elliston Poetry Fund. Each of the featured writers are in the early stages of their careers, have published one or two books, and have won national or international awards.
The readings will take place at 4 p.m. in the Elliston Room of Langsam Library, Room 646, on UC's Uptown Campus.
“In addition to giving readings, our visiting writers often meet with students, participate in public Q & A’s, and/or record podcasts while they are on campus," said Coordinator of Creative Writing Jennifer Habel.
With PhDs in creative writing from UC, it’s only fitting for both Strickley and Brodeur to make an appearance. Brodeur is currently a professor at the University of Indiana and has published five collections of poetry, including his most recent, “Every Hour is Late” (Measure Press, Inc., 2019). The National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship is just one of the several awards Strickley has won. She also released “Fall Together,” Strickley (Gold Wake Press Collective, 2018) last year, which was her first collection of short stories.
This series will continue with three more readings throughout the fall from writers Moriel Rothman-Zecher on Oct. 7; Lillian Li on Oct. 21 and Don Bogen on Nov. 15.
Rothman-Zecher, Israeli-American novelist and poet, makes his anticipated appearance after just recently being honored as a 2018 National Book Foundation ‘5 Under 35.’ These honorees are meant to recognize young fiction writers whose work promises to leave an impression in the writing world. Rothman-Zecher’s work has been published in The New York Times, Haaretz, The Common, among others.
Li’s debut novel, “Number One Chinese Restaurant,” (Henry Holt and Co., 2018) will be the center of conversation during her visit as the title was named NPR’s Best Book of 2018. This novel, about the complicated lives and loves of people working in everyone’s favorite Chinese restaurant. It also was longlisted for The Women’s Prize and The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize.
UC’s own, Bogen wraps up this year’s Visiting Writers Series after recently publishing his fifth book of poetry, “Immediate Song” (Milkweed Editions, 2019). Bogen has collaborated with composers and received fellowships from the Camargo Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Bogen also serves as editor-at-large for The Cincinnati Review, a literary magazine that features poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction.
Featured image at top: Colorful bookcase. Photo/Labos Houske/Pixabay
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