The Wesleyan Connection

As part of the Distinguished Writers Series at Wesleyan, poet Bernadette Mayer spoke and read prose Oct. 14. Mayer is the author of more than two dozen volumes of poetry, including Midwinter Day, Sonnets, The Desires of Mothers to Please Others in Letters, and Poetry State Forest. A former director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery and co-editor of the conceptual magazine 0 to 9, Mayer has been a key figure on the New York poetry scene for decades.

Mayer's visit was organized by Elizabeth Willis, the Shapiro-Silverberg Associate Professor of Creative Writing, associate professor of English.

Fiction writer John Brandon spoke on Oct. 21. Brandon is the author of the novel Arkansas and the forthcoming novel The Semester. He is currently the Grisham Writer-in-Residence at University of Mississippi.

Brandon's visit was organized by Deb Olin Unferth, assistant professor of English. (Photos by Jeffrey Katzin '10)

For more information on the Distinguished Writers Series go to: http://www.wesleyan.edu/writing/distinguished_writers/

Kit Reed

Kit Reed, resident writer in the English Department, participated in the 17th Annual Festival of Reading in St. Petersburg, Fla., Oct. 24.  Reed was one of dozens of authors who spoke to the community about a particular book.

According to the St. Petersburg Times Festival author biography, Reed is ”One of our brightest cultural commentators. ” Often anthologized, her short stories appear in venues ranging from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Asimov’s SF and Omni to The Yale Review, The Kenyon Review and The Norton Anthology of American Literature.

During the festival, Reed spoke about her book, Enclave.

Wesleyan Writers Conference teacher Ravi Shankar leads a discussion on poetry June 17 during the 53rd annual conference.

The Wesleyan Writers Conference welcomes new writers, established writers, and anyone interested in the writer's craft.

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Award-winning writers Amy Bloom, Andre Aciman, Katha Pollitt, Peter Cole and Roxana Robinson will join more than 20 writers, editors and agents at the 53rd annual Wesleyan Writers Conference, June 14-19 on campus.

Author Amy Bloom, whose stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories will be a guest teacher at the Wesleyan Writers Conference in June. (Photo by Beth Kelly)

The conference offers advice for writers at every stage of their careers, featuring classes, workshops, manuscript advice, guest speakers, readings, publishing advice and talks with editors and agents. It welcomes new writers, experienced writers, and everyone interested in the writer’s craft.

“Attending the conference gave me incredible confidence,” says past participant Dr. Mara Berkley, psychologist from Providence, R.I. who came to the conference to work on her fiction. “I met wonderful people, every class was excellent, and I found a long-term mentor.”

Topics include novel, short story, poetry, journalism, documentary and family history, biography, translation and short- and long- form nonfiction. Special events include sessions on blogs and digital media with Kit Reed and Ron Hogan as well as discussions with agents and editors on the future of publishing. Among other hot topics: choosing an MFA program, preparing your work for publication and working with an editor.

A one-day festival on June 18 welcomes everyone who cannot attend the full-week program. Participants will have a chance to talk with the speakers.

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Kit Reed, resident writer in the English Department, is the author of Enclave, published by TOR Books on Feb. 3. In this gripping dystopian satire, ex-marine Sargent Whitmore has a plan to make millions while protecting children from the self-destructing modern world. He turns an old Mediterranean monastery into a combined impenetrable fortress and school, and enrolls 100 filthy-rich children, most of them already well-known for legal troubles, drug problems and paparazzi run-ins. Once there, everyone is cut off from the outside world, fed only canned news stories about wars and natural disasters. When things inevitably go horribly wrong, young hacker “Killer” Stade, physician assistant Cassie, drug and sex-crazed Sylvie and monastery-raised orphan Benny all attempt heroics, but remain deeply flawed. Reed displays unflinching willingness to explore all the facets of all of the characters, and her refusal to paint anyone as a simple villain makes this far more than a typical disaster novel.

Reed speaks about her book in an online interview here.

Amy Bloom '75, the Jacob Julien Visiting Writer, spoke Feb. 18 in the Russell House as part of the Distinguished Writers Series for Spring 2009.

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The Spring 2009 Distinguished Writers Series features a short story author, New York Times Magazine writer, student poets and a Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Amy Bloom ’75, the 2009 Jacob Julien Visiting Writer, will speak at 8 p.m. Feb. 18 in Russell House. Bloom is the author of the novel Love Invents Us, the short story collection A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, and the nonfiction work Normal. Her most recent novel, Away, was a New York Times bestseller, and she has received the National Magazine Award and been nominated for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and numerous anthologies here and abroad.

Carlo Rotella will speak at 8 p.m. Feb. 25 in Russell House. Rotella is the author of October Cities, Good With Their Hands, (more…)