SMU LitFest to host notable authors March 19-21
SMU’s Litfest 2015 will feature an array of readings, receptions and book signings celebrating the creative work of poets, novelists and students from Thursday, March 19, through Sunday, March 21.
DALLAS (SMU) — SMU’s Litfest 2015 will feature an array of readings, receptions and book signings celebrating the creative work of poets, novelists and students from Thursday, March 19, through Sunday, March 21.
The annual festival “has an excellent record of bringing in rising literary stars,” says Dallas Morning News books editor Michael Merschel in a March 5 story about the popular event, which since the 1980s has featured such notable writers as John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Norman Mailer and Jill McCorkle.
“I’m particularly excited this year that, first, we’re expanding our offerings to include writers of creative nonfiction and also that this year our guests include so many writers who are working on multiple genres,” SMU Creative Writing Director David Haynes told Merschel. “It’s a genuinely versatile group of writers. And a quite diverse one, too.”
Visiting authors include:
Jeffrey Renard Allen: Author of two collections of poetry and two works of fiction including the celebrated novel, Rails Under My Back, winner of The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction.
Jericho Brown: His poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Best American Poetry. He is an assistant professor of poetry at Emory University.
Liam Callanan: Author of two critically acclaimed novels, All Saints and The Cloud Atlas, his new book, Listen & Other Stories, will be released in April. Callanan teaches in the English department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Elizabeth T. Gray Jr.: Her poetry has appeared in such publications as Harvard Review, Poetry International and Best New Poets of 2012. Gray also translates classical and contemporary Persian poetry.
Joe Milazzo: Author of the novel Crepuscule W/ Nellie and a forthcoming volume of poetry, The Habiliments, his writings have appeared in Black Clock, Black Warrior Review and The Collagist. He is editor of the online interdisciplinary arts journal [out of nothing].
R. Flowers Rivera: Her work has been published in such journals as African American Review, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Columbia and Feminist Studies. Her short story “The Iron Bars” has received numerous accolades.
Alan Shapiro: Author of 12 books of poetry (including the National Book Award finalist Night of the Republic), four books of prose, and two translations with Oxford University Press. His many awards include The Kingsley Tufts Award, LA Times Book Prize and a Guggenheim.
Peter Turchi: Author of five books of fiction and nonfiction and co-editor of three writing anthologies, Turchi has been called by The Houston Chronicle, “one of the foremost thinkers on the art of writing.”
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