Queens University MFA program hosts readings

Elissa Schappell ("Blueprints for Building Better Girls") will be among four Queens University faculty members giving free readings this month as part of the school's low-residency MFA program in creative writing.

The New York Times says Schappell's "Blueprints for Building Better Girls," a collection of linked stories, "crackles with the blunt, cynical humor wielded by people chronically on the defense. Her women are caustic and witty, even in the face of sorrow."

She'll read at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at Ketner Auditorium in the Sykes Learning Center. Also reading that night will be Pushcart Prize winner James McKean, author of two books of poems and an essay collection, "Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports."

Queens will also hold a reading 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, in Ketner Auditorium featuring Davidson College graduate Ashley Warlick, author of three novels, including "Seek the Living," and poet Sally Keith, author of "Design."

Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout at Queens Thursday

There's been a last-minute substitution: This morning, I posted a blog about Queens University's Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing.

The program is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free reading featuring alumna and faculty on Thursday, Oct. 20. Jonathan Dee, whose novel, "The Privileges," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was to be among the attendees.

Queens folks have just told me that Dee can't make it. But here's the good news: Elizabeth Strout is coming in his place. Strout won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for "Olive Kitteridge."

Everything else remains the same. 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 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 hosts readings, panels on publishing

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of its MFA program in creative writing, Queens University hosts this month a series of panel discussions by literary editors and agents and readings by MFA faculty and staff.

The events, all free and open to the public, begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19, in Sykes Auditorium with readings from MFA alumni Tracy Crow ("Eyes Right"), Pauletta Handel ("The Lives We Live in Houses") and Susan Woodring ("Springtime on Mars").

On Saturday, May 21, a 9:30 a.m. panel on magazines includes "Tin House" Editor Rob Spillman and Willing Davidson, an editor at The New Yorker. At 4:30 p.m., literary agents and editors at major publishing houses will discuss the current state of publishing. Both events are in Sykes Auditorium.

Events continue with faculty readings through the next week. Here's a complete 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.