Working Writers Series Kicks Off Spring Semester with Nonfiction Writer Jerald Walker

The Working Writers Series events, which are sponsored by the English department’s Creative Writing Program, will present readings from the following writers throughout the semester. All events will take place in the Rehm Library in Smith Hall (unless otherwise noted) and are free and open to the public.

Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m. Jerald Walker, author of two memoirs, “Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption” (Bison Books, 2012) and "The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult" (Beacon Press, 2016), will offer a reading of his work. His first memoir received the 2011 PEN New England Award for Nonfiction and was lauded as a “spectacular debut” by Publishers Weekly. Walker’s second memoir received wide praise as Vivian Gornick asserted, “Jerald Walker has a remarkable story to tell, and he tells it with a wealth of grace and intelligence at his command.” The reading is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing program, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Africana Studies concentration.

Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m. Ander Monson will discuss what it means to be a writer and a reader. He is the author of six books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, most recently "Letter to a Future Lover" (Graywolf, 2015). In a review on NPR, Michael Schaub observed, “'Letter to a Future Lover'...is a breathtakingly original, thoughtful consideration of what it means to be a reader—or a writer, or a human being. His focus isn’t books, exactly, but rather the things we find in them: notes, date due slips, scrawlings in the margins. As an essay collection, it’s magnificent; as a love letter, it’s a work of overwhelming devotion and generosity.” This event is co-sponsored by Creative Writing program and the Rev. Michael C. McFarland Center for Religious, Ethics and Culture.

March 16, 7:30 p.m. Pamela Painter is the author of four story collections, most recently "Ways to Spend the Night" (Engine Books, 2016). She will read from her work and has received grants from The Massachusetts Artists Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts. In addition, Painter has won three Pushcart Prizes and Agni Review’s The John Cheever Award for Fiction.

March 30, 7:30 p.m. Lily Hoang, the author of five books, including “A Bestiary,” which won the inaugural Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s Nonfiction Contest, will read from her work. Another novel, "Changing," received a PEN Open Books Award. Hoag also serves as editor at Puerto del Sol and for Jaded Ibis Press.