LOUISVILLE, Ky. (October 9, 2020)—Spalding University’s Festival of Contemporary Writing, the state’s largest fall-spring reading series, announces its fall line-up, featuring readings by faculty of the low-residency programs of Spalding’s School of Creative and Professional Writing. Academy Award-winning screenwriter Kevin Willmott makes a special appearance to accept the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature. The festival takes place Tuesday, November 10, through Friday, November 20, as part of the School of Writing’s fall residency, which is being conducted virtually due to Covid-19.
All events take place virtually and are free and open to the public, but you must register separately for each event in order to receive the link to attend. Each session has a unique registration link, listed below.
7:30 – 8:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, November 10. Faculty Reading. Register to attend at https://forms.gle/rcNYgyVWbpwq3QcV8.
Rachel Harper (fiction), This Side of Providence
Fenton Johnson (creative nonfiction, fiction), At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life, The Man Who Loved Birds
Lesléa Newman (writing for children and young adults), Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story
Douglas Manuel (poetry), Testify
Larry Brenner (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Growing Up Dead, Saving Throw Versus Love
Lynnell Edwards (poetry), This Great Green Valley
5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Saturday, November 14. Faculty Reading. Register to attend at https://forms.gle/a7A8eZYbhdfz5TUWA.
Leslie Daniels (fiction), Cleaning Nabokov’s House
Greg Pape (poetry), Four Swans: Poems
Jacinda Townsend (fiction), Saint Monkey
Roy Hoffman (fiction, creative nonfiction), Come Landfall, Alabama Afternoons: Profiles and Conversations
Erin Keane (professional writing; poetry), Demolition of the Promised Land
Sam Zalutsky (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Seaside (Now streaming on Amazon, iTunes, VUDU, and elsewhere)
5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Tuesday, November 17. Faculty Reading. Register to attend at https://forms.gle/WxGtjhYSQy2UTN1t8.
Kirby Gann (fiction), Ghosting
Jeanie Thompson (poetry), The Myth of Water: Poems from the Life of Helen Keller
Keith S. Wilson (poetry), Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love
Edie Hemingway (writing for children and young adults), Road to Tater Hill
Eric Schmiedl (playwriting), Browns Rules
Dianne Aprile (creative nonfiction), The Eye is Not Enough: On Seeing and Remembering
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, November 19. Faculty Reading. Register to attend at https://forms.gle/gtUHgDJ4jB2uNuXe7.
Nancy McCabe (creative nonfiction, fiction), Can This Marriage Be Saved?, Following Disasters
Jeremy Paden (translation), Under the Ocelot Sun
Gabriel Dean (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Terminus, Qualities of Starlight
Silas House (fiction), Southernmost
Beth Ann Bauman (writing for children & young adults), Jersey Angel
5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, November 19. Spalding Prize winner Kevin Willmott. Register to attend at https://forms.gle/C45gD6M1Qwvd3ZLb8.
Kevin Willmott, Academy Award-winning screenwriter. Credits include BlacKkKlansman, Da 5 Bloods, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, and others. Willmott will be awarded the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature for his body of work.
5:30 – 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, November 20. Faculty Reading. Register to attend at https://forms.gle/RGjoiR4f8ADcBxBg6.
John Pipkin (fiction), The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter
Rebecca Walker (creative nonfiction, fiction), Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness, Adé: A Love Story
Robin Lippincott (fiction, creative nonfiction), Our Arcadia, Blue Territory
Kira Obolensky (playwriting), Hiding in the Open
Charlie Schulman (writing for TV, screen, and stage), Goldstein: A Musical About Family
Kathleen Driskell (poetry), Blue Etiquette
The reading schedule may change without notice. Check Facebook for updated information: Facebook.com/SpaldingSchoolofWriting. For more information, call 502-873-4400 or email schoolofwriting@spalding.edu.
The School of Creative and Professional Writing at Spalding University offers three low-residency programs, including the flagship 65-credit-hour MFA in Writing program; a 35-credit Master of Arts in Writing, offering tracks in creative writing and professional writing; and a 15-credit graduate certificate in writing, also with two tracks. The School of Writing offers concentrations in fiction; poetry; creative nonfiction; writing for children and young adults; writing for TV, screen, and stage; and professional writing. Students begin the semester in the spring, summer, or fall with a residency in Louisville or abroad, then return home for an independent study with a faculty mentor for the rest of the semester. Students may customize the location, season, and pace of their studies. See spalding.edu/schoolofwriting for more information, or find us on Twitter @SpaldingWriting.
CONTACT: Katy Yocom School of Creative and Professional Writing Spalding University 502-873-4401