UC Visiting Writers series returns for spring, with award-winning poets, authors, agents
Mark your calendars for a line-up of literary luminaries
UC’s Visiting Writers Series kicks off with a five-event program featuring authors and poets who have been nationally and internationally recognized for their work by The New York Times, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal.
Starting on Feb. 1, the series is sponsored by the Creative Writing Program in the English department of UC’s College of Arts and Sciences. The events are free and open to the public.
“Each semester, we strive to bring a diverse and exciting array of contemporary voices to campus. The upcoming semester is no exception,” says creative writing coordinator, author, and poet Jennifer Habel of the Visiting Writers Series.
“Every year, the creative writing faculty collectively chooses writers to invite for our series. In order to be chosen, a writer needs to have written a book (or books) that our faculty admires.”
Jennifer Habel of the Visiting Writers Series
Danielle Cadena Deulen, Feb. 1
Poet Danielle Cadena Deulen. Photo/Provided
Poet and Barrow Street Book contest winner Danielle Cadena Deulen kicks off the series with excerpts from her most recent poetry collection, “Desire Museum.” Deulen’s award-winning work includes her memoir “The Riots,” and her poetry collection “Our Emotions Get Carried Away Beyond Us.” She is also a professor at Georgia State University, where she teaches the graduate creative writing program.
Chet’la Sebree, Feb. 27
Poet Chet’la Sebree. Photo/Provided
James Laughlin Award winner and NAACP Image Award nominee Chet’la Sebree presents her memoir “Field Study” (FSG Originals), a genre-bending exploration of black womanhood and desire, written as a lyrical, surprisingly humorous, and startlingly vulnerable prose poem.” Sebree is an assistant professor of English at George Washington University and a recipient of fellowships from many institutions including Baldwin for the Arts, the Hawthornden Foundation, and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. Her debut essay collection is expected to be published by The Dial Press in 2025.
Robin McClean, March 28
Poet Robin McClean. Photo/Provided
Lawyer, potter and author Robin McLean presents from her story collection “Get’em Young, Treat’em’ Tough, Tell’em Nothing,” The New York Times editors’ choice for 2022. Her debut novel, “Pity the Beast,” received awards from The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal as the best book of fiction in 2021.
Robin McClean and literary agent Stephanie Steiker, March 29
McLean participates in a panel about a writer’s relationship with a literary agent. To provide an insider's view, literary agent Stephanie Steiker will also participate. Prior to becoming a literary agent with Regal Hoffman & Associates, she served as associate director for the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University and wrote for the The New Yorker for several years.
Douglas Kearney, April 2, April 4
Poet and librettist Douglas Kearney. Photo/Provided
Award-winning poet and librettist Douglas Kearney hosts a talk on April 2, and closes this semester’s series on April 4 with a reading of his more recent poetry collection, “Optic Subwoof,” among other selections. He is an author of eight books, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly awardee and Cave Canem fellow, and a professor of creative writing at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities.
All the events will be held in the Elliston Poetry Room, room 646, on the second floor of Langsam Library, 2911 Woodside Dr. Each reading will take place 5:30 p.m., and the author agent discussion will be held at 3:30 p.m.
“Listening to an author read or discuss their work as part of a live audience is a uniquely meaningful experience, says Habel.
“Audience members feel connected to the author and part of a listening community. People who attend our events will encounter the work of exciting and often wildly accomplished writers; have the opportunity to meet those writers and ask questions of them; and get their books signed,” says Habel.
These events have pulled best-selling authors and poets such as Sandra Cisneros, Rita Dove, Nicholson Baker, and many more for decades. The events are free and open to the public as they have been since Robert Frost’s visit in 1951. No registration is required.
For more information, check out the Visiting Writers Series website. For those who enjoyed attending the Visiting Writer’s series, Habel suggests also attending the Poetry Stacked series.
“I hope these events create a sense of community among audience members. And I hope they both inspire our students and give them a sense of permission in their own writing."
Featured Image at top: Stacks of books. Credit/Ed Robertson for Unsplash
By Dajla Luckey
Student Journalist, A&S Department of Marketing & Communication
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