Creative Writing Program Sponsors Stellar Lineup of Writers for Winter Residency |
 Novelist Connie May Fowler (pictured at left) and Irish poet Eileen Casey are just two of the prominent authors among a group of writers performing in Lexington Jan. 1-8 during Eastern Kentucky University’s annual Creative Writing Winter Residency.
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The lineup also includes leading Affrilachian poet Frank X Walker, novelists Megan Abbott and Joshua Gaylord, and Sonja Livingston, author of the nonfiction work, “Ghostbread.”
Fowler is the author of five critically praised novels and a memoir. Her novels include “Sugar Cage,” “River of Hidden Dreams,” “Before Women Had Wings,” “Remembering Blue,” “The Problem with Murmer Lee,” and “How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly.”
Casey, a poet based in Dublin, Ireland, is the recipient of The Scottish International Poetry Prize and author of “Drinking the Colour Blue.”
Walker is the author of four poetry collections: “When Winter Come: the Ascension of York,” “Black Box,” “Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York,” and “Affrilachia.” He has received numerous writing honors, including a Lannan Literary Fellowship in Poetry.
Abbott is the Edgar-winning author of the novels “Die a Little,” “The Song Is You,” “Queenpin” and “Bury Me Deep.” Her upcoming novel, “The End of Everything,” debuts in July.
New York City–based writer Gaylord is the author of two novels: “The Reapers Are the Angels” (under the pen name Alden Bell) and “Hummingbirds,” published by HarperCollins in 2009.
Livingston’s “Ghostbread” won the AWP Book Prize for Nonfiction, and her work has appeared in some of the country's finest literary journals, including the Iowa Review.
All readings will be held at the Hilton Lexington Downtown, beginning each evening (except for Wednesday, Jan. 5) at 7:30. The complete schedule of readings follows:
- Saturday, Jan. 1 – EKU MFA in Creative Writing Program faculty, including poet/fictionist Julie Hensley, essayist R. Dean Johnson, novelist Derek Nikitas, and poet Young Smith. Smith also serves as director of the program.
- Sunday, Jan. 2 – Frank X Walker.
- Monday, Jan. 3 – Megan Abbott.
- Tuesday, Jan. 4 -- Eileen Casey.
- Thursday, Jan. 6 – Josh Gaylord.
- Friday, Jan. 7 -- Sonja Livingston.
- Saturday, Jan. 8 – Connie May Fowler.
All events are free and open to the public, with books by the authors available for sale and signing.
The reading events are sponsored by EKU’s MFA in Creative Writing Program. For more information about the program, visit www.english.eku.edu/mfa or call 622-3093.
