George Mason University’s Creative Writing Program joins Mason’s University Libraries and Watershed Lit in presenting the Spring 2022 Visiting Writers Series, which will feature two writers each in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Writers will meet for virtual afternoon workshops with students from Mason’s MFA program in creative writing and will then participate in virtual programs that same evening—open to the public and combining brief readings and conversation with hosts from Mason’s creative writing community.
All public programs will begin at 7:30 p.m., except for David Herd’s event, February 3 at 4:30 p.m.
Visit creativewriting.gmu.edu for updated information ahead.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3: DAVID HERD (poetry)
Note: 4:30 p.m. event
David Herd’s books of poems include All Just, Outwith, Through, Songs from the Language of a Declaration, and Walk Song (forthcoming from Shearsman). His essays and poems have been widely published in magazines, journals and newspapers and his recent writings on the politics of human movement have appeared in From the European South, Los Angeles Review of Books, Paideuma, and the Times Literary Supplement. He is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Kent and a co-organizer of the project Refugee Tales.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17: KIKI PETROSINO (poetry)
Kiki Petrosino is the author of White Blood: a Lyric of Virginia (2020) and three other poetry books. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. Her poems and essays have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Best American Poetry, The Nation, The New York Times, FENCE, Gulf Coast, jubilat, Tin House and on-line at Ploughshares. She directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of Virginia, where she is a Professor of Poetry. Petrosino is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Fellowship in Creative Writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Al Smith Fellowship Award from the Kentucky Arts Council, and the UNT Rilke Prize.
THURSDAY, MARCH 3: LACY CRAWFORD (nonfiction)
Lacy Crawford is the author of fiction and nonfiction, most recently the memoir Notes On A Silencing (Little, Brown, 2020), which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and Notable Book, was named one of People Magazine’s top ten books of 2020, and was called a best book of the year by Time, NPR, Library Journal, BookPage, and other outlets. Her satirical novel Early Decision appeared with William Morrow in 2013. Other writing has appeared in outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Narrative, and Vanity Fair. She holds degrees in English Literature from Princeton and the University of Chicago. Lacy lives in California with her family.
THURSDAY, MARCH 10: JEFF JACKSON (fiction)
Jeff Jackson is a novelist, playwright, songwriter, and visual artist. His latest novel Destroy All Monsters (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2018) was praised by Don DeLillo, Janet Fitch, and Dana Spiotta, and received rave reviews from The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, and Pitchfork. His widely acclaimed first novel Mira Corpora (Two Dollar Radio, 2013) was a Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His novella Novi Sad was published as a limited-edition art book and chosen as “Best Book of 2016” in Vice, Lit Reactor, and Entropy. His nonfiction has appeared in New York Magazine, The Believer, Electric Literature, The Poetry Foundation, The Village Voice, and NPR. Seven of his plays have been produced by the Obie-Award winning Collapsable Giraffe theater company in New York City. He performs with the band Julian Calendar and shows his visual art installations in various galleries.
THURSDAY, APRIL 7: MICHAEL ZAPATA (fiction)
Michael Zapata is a founding editor of MAKE Literary Magazine and the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Award for Fiction and the City of Chicago DCASE Individual Artist Program Award. He is on the core faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. As a public-school educator, he taught literature and writing in high schools servicing drop out students. He currently lives in Chicago with his family.
THURSDAY, APRIL 28: CHRISTOPHER DAVENPORT (nonfiction)
Christopher Davenport is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. He has served tours in Vietnam, Guatemala, Washington, DC, Tajikistan, and the Eastern European nation of Georgia. He has also worked in Albania, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. His first international experience was as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Papua New Guinea from 1994 to 1996. His time living in a village of subsistence farmers in the Papua New Guinean Highlands forms the basis of his memoir, The Tin Can Crucible. He lives in Springfield, Virginia, with his wife, two daughters, and an assortment of pets they have adopted from around the world.
January 06, 2022
