The Gertrude Vanderbilt and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writers Series begins Jan. 20
Novelists Bobbie Ann Mason and Tom Perrotta and poets Mark Jarman, Ciaran Carson and Frank Bidart are among the writers who will read from their work during the spring semester at Vanderbilt University.
The Gertrude Vanderbilt and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writers series brings writers to campus each semester to visit students and give public readings. The 7 p.m. readings in various venues on campus are free and open to the public.
The lineup:
Jan. 20: poet Jericho Brown, author of Please, assistant professor of English at the University of San Diego, at the Black Cultural Center.
Jan. 27: a reading featuring alumni of Vanderbilt’s Creative Writing Program in Room 102 Buttrick Hall.
Feb. 10: poet Bobby Rogers, author of Paper Anniversary, professor of English at Union University, in Room 102 Buttrick Hall.
Feb. 17: poet Mark Jarman, author of nine poetry volumes and the upcoming Bone Fires, Centennial Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, in Room 126 Wilson Hall.
Feb. 24: fiction writer Holly Goddard Jones, author of the short story collection Girl Trouble, assistant professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in Room 102 Buttrick Hall.
March 17: novelist Tom Perrotta , author of the novels The Abstinence Teacher and Election, in Room 126 Wilson Hall.
March 24: poet Nick Flynn, author of the non-fiction Another Bullshit Night in Suck City and poetry collections Ether and Blind Huber, associate professor of English at the University of Houston, in Room 126 Wilson Hall.
March 30: writer Bobbie Ann Mason, author of a biography of Elvis Presley, novels including An Atomic Romance and the memoir Clear Springs: A Memoir, in Room 114 Furman Hall.
April 7: poet and novelist Ciaran Carson, author of the novel Shamrock Tea and poetry collections including Until Before After, director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetery in Ireland, in Room 126 Wilson Hall. Carson will also be interviewed by Alice Quinn, executive director of the Poetry Society of America.
April 14: poet Frank Bidart, author of the lyrics collection Watching the Spring Festival and poetry collection Star Dust, professor of English at Wellesley College, in Room 114 Furman Hall.