BINGHAMTON, NY - The Binghamton University Center for Writers is kicking off its Spring Readers' Series with an opening event at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Room 258 of the Fine Arts Building, on campus. All events in the series will be held at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and are free and open to the public.
The Spring Readers' Series features noted poets and fiction writers reading from their own work. The opening event will feature Shawn Goodman, an Ithaca-based author whose award-winning books, Kindness for Weakness and Something Like Hope, are inspired by his experiences working in New York state juvenile detention facilities. He is an award-winning young adult novelist, and is also the co-author of This Way Home, written with bestselling author Wes Moore.
The Center also sponsors the Writing Life Series, which provides an opportunity for an informal conversation with working editors about writing, publishing and craft.
Below is a brief rundown of the remainder of the season's schedule:
Monday, Feb. 17
1:30-3 p.m.
Harpur Dean's Conference Room (Library North, Room 2200)
A Writing Life Series event with Rebecca Hart Olander, editor and director of Perugia Press, publishers of first and second books of poetry by women. The Writing Life series features an informal Q & A on publishing, craft and the writing life that is open to all.
Tuesday, Feb.18
8 p.m.
Fine Arts Building, Room 258
A Readers' Series event featuring two Binghamton University alums. Poet Abby E. Murray, PhD '15, won the 2019 Perugia Press Poetry Prize for her first full-length collection, Hail and Farewell. She edits the literary journal Collateral and runs workshops for veterans, trauma survivors, active-duty service members, military families, refugees and civilians. During her tenure at Binghamton, Murray directed the Binghamton Poetry Project. Jason Allen, PhD '17, novelist, poet and memoirist, will also read from his novel The East End, a suspenseful page-turner based on his own experiences growing up a working-class townie in the tony Hamptons.
Tuesday, March 17
8 p.m.
Fine Arts Building, Room 258
A Readers' Series event with sam sax, winner of the Academy of American Poets James Laughlin Award for his collection bury it, and winner of the National Poetry Series for madness.
Tuesday, March 24
8 p.m.
Fine Arts Building, Room 258
A Readers' Series event with novelist Azareen Vandervliet Oloomi, winner of the Binghamton University John Gardner Fiction Book Award for Call Me Zebra, which also won the 2019 PEN/Faulkner Award. Zebra reflects Oloomi's experiences in Iran, Spain, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates.
Tuesday, April 14
8 p.m.
Fine Arts Building, Room 258
A Readers' Series event featuring Bob Hicok, winner of the Binghamton University Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award for Hold. Hicok's other award-winning books include The Legend of Light, winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry; This Clumsy Living, which received the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress; and Animal Soul and Elegy Owed, both of which were finalists for the National Book Critics' Circle Award.
Wednesday, April 15
1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.
Harpur Dean's Conference Room (Library North, Room 2200)
A Writing Life Series event with Joseph Bednarik of Copper Canyon Press, a premier independent press dedicated to publishing poetry. The Writing Life series features an informal Q & A on publishing, craft and the writing life that is open to all.
