Creative Writing

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Spring 2009 Global Voices Reading Series

Friday, February 20, 2009 at 11:00 am - Poet, memoirist, and art critic William Corbett will read from his latest book of poetry Opening Day at the UMASS Boston Bookstore.  Bill is Director of Student Writing Activities in MIT’s Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies and an editor at Pressed Wafer, a poetry publisher.  He is also a frequent contributor of book reviews for the Boston Phoenix.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 11:00 am - Join us for readings from poets Andrea Cohen and Jill McDonough at the UMASS Boston Bookstore.  Andrea Cohen, author of The Cartographer's Vacation, will read from her new book, Long Division. Her awards include a PEN Discovery Award, the Owl Creek Poetry Prize, and a Glimmertrain prize for short fiction.  She also directs the Blacksmith House Reading Series in Cambridge, MA, and writes about marine research at MIT, where she edits the online literary journal Sea Change.  Poet Jill McDonough has taught incarcerated college students through Boston University's Prison Education Program since 1999. Her poems have appeared in The Threepenny Review, The New Republic, and Slate.  Jill is a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fine Arts Work Center, and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and Stanford’s Wallace Stegner Fellowship.  Her first book of poetry, Habeus Corpus contains fifty sonnets, each about a historical execution.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 2:00pm - Award winning poet Richard Tillinghast is the author of eight books of poetry and three books of non-fiction.  He spent many years as a poetry editor for the New York Times Book Review and has reviewed and written literary essays for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, to name a few. A native of Tennessee, Richard has traveled extensively and currently lives in Ireland.  Richard's latest books are Finding Ireland and The New Life.  In Finding Ireland Richard offers an exploration of his adopted home, its culture, literary history, and people.  His newest book of poetry, The New Life, explores the themes of life, love, and loss.

Monday, March 23, 2009 at 11:00am – Award winning writer Helen Elaine Lee will be at the UMASS Boston bookstore reading from her work.  Helen’s books include The Serpent’s Gift and Watermarked.  She is currently at work on a novel about the lives of a group of people who are incarcerated in two neighboring American prisons. She has published excerpts from this novel in Callaloo and Hanging Loose. Helen is an associate professor in MIT’s Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies and she serves on the Board of PEN New England and is a member of its Freedom To Write Committee.

Monday, April 13, 2009 at 11:00am – Poets Micheal Cirelli and Dick Lourie will be reading at the campus bookstore.  Once a poetry slam champion, Michael Cirelli’s first full-length collection of poetry Lobster with Dirty Ol’ Bastard is a contemporary exploration of hop-hop culture and features poems about well-known artists.  A blues musician and poet, Dick Lourie’s books of poetry include Ghost Radio and If the Delta was the Sea.  Ghost Radio includes the poem “Forgiving Our Fathers” which was featured in the film Smoke Signals.  Dick is co-founder of NY State Poets in the Schools and often mixes music with poetry at readings and workshops.