Queens MFA Program celebrates with reading

Queens University's Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free reading featuring alumna and faculty, including Jonathan Dee, whose novel, "The Privileges," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The reading begins at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in Sykes Auditorium. Other faculty readers include poet and nonfiction writer Rebecca McClanahan, author of "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings," and poet Morri Creech, author of "Field Knowledge."

The reading also features the work of three MFA graduates: Jessica Handler, author of the memoir "Invisible Sisters"; Susan Meyers, author of the poetry collection "Keep and Give Away"; and Susan Woodring, whose novel, "Goliath," will be published in 2012.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, serves as the opening event for the first annual Queens Writing Symposium, which continues through Friday, Oct. 21. It includes a panel on publishing and master classes taught by MFA faculty and that offer writers the chance to revise their manuscripts for publication. A morning session and luncheon is $99. The master classes are an additional $149. Here's a full schedule.

Queens' MFA program to celebrate with big-name authors

Book lovers, mark your calendars for May 21.

That's the night the Low-Residency MFA Program at Queens University of Charlotte celebrates its 10th anniversary. A gala event will include readings by renowned authors who also happen to be on the MFA faculty.

Among them:

Elizabeth Strout, author of the novel "Olive Kitteridge," winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Robert Polito, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for "Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson."

North Carolina Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers.

Jonathan Dee, author of "The Privileges," named a New York Times Notable Book of 2010.

Vanity Fair contributing editor Elissa Schappell.

The gala is open to the public. It's 6:30-10 p.m. Tickets, at $50, go on sale in April.