Writers Speak Wednesdays Kicks Off Fall Season October 5

Two-time Pushcart Prize winner Kim Addonizio will be the first guest in the fall Writers Speak Wednesdays series of free author talks and readings open to the public at Stony Brook Southampton. Addonizio will read from and talk about her work on Wednesday, October 5, at 7 p.m. in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall.

This first Writers Speak program for the fall semester on October 5 will be preceded by an open house and informational session at 5:30 p.m. for prospective MFA in Creative Writing and Literature candidates. Program Director Julie Sheehan and other faculty members will discuss the MFA workshops in fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, poetry, playwriting and more, all taught by distinguished working writers.

For those interested in writing books for kids—from picture books and early readers to middle grade and young adult fiction—the open house will include a presentation on the one-year Children’s Lit Fellows program by kids’ lit Director Emma Walton Hamilton. Following the presentations and Q&A, prospective students can attend the Writers Speak reception at 6:30 p.m. to meet with current MFA candidates and the reading by Addonizio that follows at 7 p.m.

Addonizio is a poet, novelist, musician and collaborator who teaches and performs internationally. A prolific author, she has six poetry collections, two novels, two story collections, a memoir, and two books on writing poetry to her credit; she has also produced two CDs of music. Her honors include Guggenheim and NEA fellowships and two Pushcart Prizes, and she was a finalist for the National Book Award for her poetry collection, Tell Me. Recent projects include her newest poetry collection, Mortal Trash (W.W. Norton), released in August 2016, as well as a memoir in essays, Bukowski in a Sundress (Viking/Penguin). Of her latest poetry book, a San Francisco Chronicle reviewer wrote, “Only Kim Addonizio could mix Greek myths with psychopharmacology, Dante with a pinging iPhone, heartbreak with plastic pollution, and create a rare cocktail of wit and desire.”

Other writers scheduled for the fall series include: Dani Shapiro on October 19; John Knight in conversation with Emily Gilbert on November 2; Lia Purpura on November 16; and Ruth Franklin and Susan Scarf Merrell on November 30.

On December 7, the evening will be devoted to readings by students currently enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing and Literature program.

Writers Speak Wednesdays programs are free and open to the public. The evenings begin with a brief reception at 6:30 p.m.; readings begin at 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A and book signing. All programs are held in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall at Stony Brook Southampton, 239 Montauk Highway, Southampton, NY 11968.

All those interested in attending are asked to email rsvp_mfa@stonybrook.edu. For more information, call 631-632-5030 or visit stonybrook.edu/mfa. On Facebook, visit Writers Speak Wednesdays; to follow on Twitter, @WritersSpeakWed.