Poet Katha Pollitt Appears at Writers Speak Wednesdays on October 4

Poet and essayist Katha Pollitt will be the next guest in the fall Writers Speak Wednesdays series of free author talks, readings, and conversations open to the public at Stony Brook Southampton. Pollitt will read from and talk about her work with Southampton Review Managing Editor Emily Gilbert on Wednesday, October 4, at 7 p.m. in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall.

Pollitt writes the column “Subject to Debate” for The Nation, which won the National Magazine Award for Columns in Commentary in 2003, and a Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 2013. Also an esteemed poet and essayist, Pollitt won a National Book Critics Circle award in Poetry, and multiple National Magazine awards for her essays. She also received a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work in poetry.

Most recently, Pollitt published the book Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, which was listed as a Notable Book of 2014 by The New York Times. Her other work includes a collection of essays, Learning to Drive and Other Life Stories, as well as a book of poetry, The Mind-Body Problem. Pollitt resides in New York City.

Gilbert is the Managing Editor at The Southampton Review. Her short fiction, creative nonfiction, and book reviews have appeared in Consequence Online, The Greensboro Review, TSR: The Southampton Review, and the Waterhouse Review, among others. She has a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Stony Brook Southampton.

Other writers scheduled for the fall series include: Jennifer Gilmore, October 11; a reading and conversation featuring Tara Clancy and Catherine Burns of The Moth, October 18; and poets Michelle Whittaker and Kimiko Hahn, November 8.

On December 6, the evening will be devoted to readings by “the stars of tomorrow”: 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., followed by readings at 7 p.m., and then a Q&A and book signing.

Stony Brook Southampton is located at 239 Montauk Highway in Southampton. For more information, call 631-632-5030 or visit stonybrook.edu/mfa. Writers Speak is also on Facebook as Writers Speak Wednesdays; and Twitter as @WritersSpeakWed.