VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver’s annual Professional Writers Series will feature eight writers on six Thursday nights between Jan. 26 and April 6. The writers represent a variety of literary genres and styles, from short stories and memoirs to podcasts, biography and poetry.
The presentations are free and open to the public. Each begins at 7 p.m. in the Multimedia Classroom Building, Room 6 on campus. The following writers are scheduled.
Jan. 26: Scott Nadelson, “Mastering the Short Story”
Author of three acclaimed collections of short stories, Scott Nadelson chairs the writing program at Willamette University and also teaches in the Rainier Writing Workshop M.F.A. program at Pacific Lutheran University. He has won several prizes, including an Oregon Book Award. His first novel, “Between You and Me,” was published in 2015.
Feb. 9: Martha Grover and Michael Heald, “Getting Personal: Memoirs and Essays”
Grover’s first book, “One More for the People” (2011) and her most recent, “The End of My Career” (2016) have been cited for their intimacy, humor and conversational style. Many of the pieces included are drawn from the print zine Somnambulist, which Grover has published for more than 12 years. Michael Heald is her publisher at Perfect Day Publishing and author of a collection of essays. He received a 2017 Oregon Literary Fellowship.
Feb. 23: David Naimon and Benjamin Parzybok in conversation, “The Art of the Literary Podcast: A Conversation”
As moderator of KBOO radio’s longstanding series “Between the Covers,” Naimon has interviewed numerous luminaries of contemporary literature, including Anthony Doerr, Mary Gaitskill, Ursula K. Le Guin and Colson Whitehead. This presentation will feature audio clips from the program and a conversation between Naimon and novelist Benjamin Parzybok.
March 9: Peter Ames Carlin, “Biographies That Rock”
Carlin has chronicled the lives of several contemporary music icons, including Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and the Beach Boys. He is a former senior writer for People magazine and television critic for the Oregonian.
March 23: Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, “Activist Poetry”
Jetnil-Kijiner is a poet and performance artist whose work centers around climate activism. In 2014, Vogue magazine named her one of 13 leading women fighting global warming. Her poetry focuses on raising awareness of issues and threats—such as rising sea levels and forced migration—faced by the people of the Marshall Islands, where she was born. She also creates videos.
April 6: Margaret Malone, “One Writer’s Path”
Malone’s debut, a story collection called “People Like You,” was a finalist for the 2016 PEN Hemingway Award, winner of the Balcones Fiction Prize and a Best Book selection by Powell’s, the Oregonian and the Portland Mercury. She has received an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship, has been a volunteer facilitator with the nonprofit Write Around Portland, and hosts an art and literary gathering called SHARE.
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As one of six campuses of the Washington State University system, 91ԹϺ offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, 91ԹϺ helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations.
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PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALL WRITERS ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
MEDIA CONTACT(S)
Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@wsu.edu
Howard Aaron, Series Coordinator, College of Arts and Sciences, 503-816-2742