Visiting Writers Series
Spring 1999

Times & Locations Vary
Click on Event for Further Information

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Authors Theatre Staged reading of Blackjack
An evening with Anna Manahan
Oscar Wilde: Confounding Critics and Surviving Scandal
by Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson
February 1, 8, 10
Fintan O'Toole - Considered one of the finest cultural critics of Ireland today, will present a lecture, "Irish Culture and Art." Drama critic for the New York Daily News, O'Toole has published numerous books on Irish history and culture including A Traitor's Kiss: The Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1997), The Ex-Isle of Ireland: Images of a Global Ireland (1997), and The Lie of the Land: Irish Identities (1998). O'Toole was elected Irish Journalist of the Year in 1993. February 4
(Thursday)
Cristina Garcia - Cuban-born American journalist and novelist, is an important new voice in Latin American literature. Her work explores the displacement of personal and cultural identity of emigres. Her novels include Dreaming in Cuban (1992) which was nominated for a National Book Award, and The Aguero Sisters (1997). Garcia is a former Time correspondent and Miami bureau chief.February 9
(Tuesday)
Douglas Starr - is the author of Blood (1998), a sweeping history of the essence and emblem of life, which Publishers Weekly named as one of the best nonfiction books of 1998. A former newspaper reporter and field biologist, Starr is codirector of the Graduate Program in Science Journalism at Boston University. He was science editor of Bodywatch, a health series that ran for three years on PBS. February 25
(Thursday)
Timothy O'Grady & Steve Pyke - Timothy O'Grady is the author of the prize-winning novel Motherland (1990) and co-author of Curious Journey: An Oral History of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution. His most recent work, I Could Read the Sky, is a collaboration, in the shape of a lyrical novel, between O'Grady and acclaimed British photographer Steve Pyke. O'Grady will read from I Could Read the Sky accompanied by a slide presentation of Pyke's photographs.March 9
(Tuesday)
Leslie Scalapino - is the author of eighteen books of poetry, plays, prose, and essays. Regarded as a "language poet," her most recent works include The Front Matter, Dead Souls (1996), New Time (1999), and The Public World/Syntactically Impermanence (1999).March 11
(Thursday)
John Montague - Poet Laureate of Ireland, will present "Recollections of Samuel Beckett," reminiscences of his personal relationship with the playwright. Montague has published over 10 volumes of poetry, a play, short stories,translations, and volumes of criticism. His poetry volumes include The Rough Field(1972), The Dead Kingdom (1984), The Love Poems (1992), Time in Armagh (1993), and his most recent volume, Collected Poems (1995), which was nominated for the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry. March 23
(Tuesday)


Barry Callaghan & Hayden Carruth
Canadian writer and editor, Barry Callaghan, is the author of The Hogg Poems and Drawings (1978), The Black Queen Stories (1982), and A Kiss is Still a Kiss (1995). His most recent book is Barrelhouse Kings, a memoir about his father, author Morley Callaghan.
Poet and author Hayden Carruth has published twenty-nine books, chiefly of poetry. His most recent books are Reluctantly: Autobiographical Essays (1998), Collected Shorter Poems, 1946-1991, which received the National Book Critics' Circle Award, and Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey (1996), which won the National Book Award.
April 6
(Tuesday)
awpconf.gif 14.0 K
Events cosponsored by the Writers Institute, which are free and open to the public, include:
Keynote Speaker Frank McCourt; Readings by Robert Creeley, John Montague, Dennis Smith, Chase Twichell;
Panel Discussions with Donald Faulkner, Richard Selzer, Russell Banks and others.
April 14-17

NEW VOICES IN FICTION
Peter Rock is the author of the novels This is the Place (1996) and Carnival Wolves (1998), the story of one man's journey across America with a dalmatian rescued from an abusive owner. Rock recently completed a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in fiction at Standford University and received a 1996 Henfield Award.
Susan Choi is the author of The Foreign Student (1998), a first novel about the relationship between a Korean refugee and a New Orleans heiress. A historical novel, it is based on her father's experiences in wartime Korea. Her short fiction has appeared in journals including the Iowa Review and Epoch magazine.

April 20
(Tuesday)

NEW VOICES IN FICTION
Claire Messud is the author of When the World Was Steady (1996). Nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award, Messud's first novel tells the story of two middle-aged sisters and the divergent life paths chosen by each. Messud was listed by Granta as one of the top ten young writers, and she has written reviews for The New Yorker, The Independent and The Guardian.
Debra Spark is the author of the novel Coconuts for the Saint (1996), which focuses on a young woman who is drawn into a love affair with a widower who has triplet daughters. She also edited Twenty Under Thirty (1986), an anthology of short stories by writers all under the age of thirty.

April 22
(Thursday)
Frances FitzGerald -Journalist and nonfiction writer, is the author of Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam (1972), which won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, Cities on a Hill (1986), and America Revisited (1979). FitzGerald will present a lecture on "America Revised Revisited" an update of her book which examines how school textbooks present history. April 27
(Tuesday)
Sara Paretsky - Mystery writer best known for her popular V. I. Warshawski series which chronicles the cases of a female private detective in Chicago. Paretsky has written eight novels based on the Warshwski character including Indemnity Only (182), Deadlock (1989), Burn Marks (1991), Guardian Angel (1992), and Tunnel Vision (1994). In her most recent novel, Ghost Country (1998), Paretsky trades in the gritty Chicago detective for the complex caper of debutante sisters. May 4
(Tuesday) May 4
(Tuesday) May 4
(Tuesday)May 4
(Tuesday)
- Mystery writer best known for her popular V. I. Warshawski series which chronicles the cases of a female private detective in Chicago. Paretsky has written eight novels based on the Warshwski character including Indemnity Only (182), Deadlock (1989), Burn Marks (1991), Guardian Angel (1992), and Tunnel Vision (1994). In her most recent novel, Ghost Country (1998), Paretsky trades in the gritty Chicago detective for the complex caper of debutante sisters.
George Plimpton -Author of best-selling books and founder and editor of The Paris Review, will discuss his trademark practice of "participatory journalism." Author and editor of nearly 30 books, Plimpton is perhaps best know for his practice of covering professional sports by participating in them as an amateur. His books include Out of My League (1961), Paper Lion (1966), The Bogey Man (1968), Open Net (1985), The X-Factor (1987), and most recently, Truman Capote (1997), an oral biography of the controversial author. May 6
(Thursday)