Holy Cross Fall 2007 Visiting Writers Series

WORCESTER, Mass. – As part of the College of the Holy Cross Visiting Writers Lecture Series, the following writers will give readings during the 2007 fall semester. All readings are free and open to the public. This series is sponsored by the College’s Creative Writing Program.

Sept. 19 Baron Wormser 7:30 p.m., Levis Browsing Room, Dinand Library

Baron Wormser was born and raised in Baltimore, Md. He attended high school at Baltimore City College, went to college at the Johns Hopkins University, and graduate school at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Maine. In 1970, he moved to Maine, where he worked for 25 years as a librarian. From 1975-98 he lived with his family in Mercer, Maine, in an off-the-grid house on 48 acres of land. His memoir titled, The Road Washes Out in Spring: A Poet's Memoir of Living Off the Grid, describes that experience. In 2000, he was appointed Poet Laureate of Maine by Governor Angus King, which enabled him to work widely in schools with both students and teachers. Since 2002, he has taught in the Stonecoast M.F.A. program at the University of Southern Maine. Wormser has received the Frederick Bock Prize from Poetry, the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, the Bread Loaf Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.

Oct. 18 Suzanne Matson 7:30 p.m., Levis Browsing Room, Dinand Library

Originally from Portland, Ore., Matson received her B.A. in English from Portland State University, her M.A in English and creative writing and Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington. While at Washington, she was awarded the Robert B. Heilman Dissertation Prize, the Academy of American Poets Prize, and the Susannah McMurphy Fellowship. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the American-Scandinavian Foundation. She is the author of The Tree-Sitter (W. W. Norton, 2006), Trick of Nature (W. W. Norton, 2000) and The Hunger Moon (W. W. Norton, 1997). She has written two books of published poems, Durable Goods (Alice James Books, 1993) and Sea Level (Alice James Books, 1990). Many of the poems collected in these volumes were previously published in journals, including The American Poetry Review, Poetry, The Boston Review, Poetry Northwest, The Southern Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Indiana Review, and Shenandoah. Her autobiographical, literary, and op-ed essays have appeared in numerous periodicals, including The New York Times Magazine, Child, The Seattle Times, The American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, and Mid-American Review. Since 1988, she has taught at Boston College, where she is a full-time professor in the English department. She lives in Newton, Mass. with her husband and three sons.

Nov. 7 Margaret Gibson 7:30 p.m., Levis Browsing Room, Dinand Library

Margaret Gibson is the author of nine books of poetry: One Body; Autumn Grasses (Louisiana State University Press, 2007); Icon and Evidence (LSU Press, 2001); Earth Elegy, New and Selected Poems (LSU Press, 1997); The Vigil, A Poem in Four Voices (LSU Press, 1993), a finalist for the National Book Award in 1993; Out in the Open (LSU Press, 1989); Memories of the Future, The Daybooks of Tina Modotti (LSU Press, 1986), co-winner of the Melville Cane Award of the Poetry Society of America in 1986-87; Long Walks in the Afternoon (LSU Press, 1979), the 1982 Lamont Selection of the Academy of American Poets; and Signs (LSU Press, 1979). She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, a Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fellowship, and grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Her first book of prose, a memoir entitled, The Prodigal Daughter, Reclaiming an Unfinished Childhood, will be published in the spring of 2008. Gibson, who was a professor in residence at The University of Connecticut from 1993 to 2006, is now a Professor Emeritus. She lives in Preston, Conn.