Category Archives: Writers’ Workshop Series

15th Annual Writers’ Workshop

From October 16 to November 8, The Williston Northampton School is hosting the 15th year of the Writers’ Workshop Series. This event brings some of today’s most accomplished and honored writers to campus where they give public lectures and teach private classes for Williston students.

On Tuesday, October 16, Williston hosted Jen duBois ’02, the first alumna to participate as both a student and as an author. Anita Shreve, a Williston parent and award-winning author of The Pilot’s Wife and other novels, spoke on Monday, October 22. Renowned author of the Knuffle Bunny children’s series, Mo Willems, will speak on Thursday, November 1.  Mount Holyoke Mellon Professor of English, Christopher Benfey, will conclude the program on Thursday, November 8.

All lectures are held at 7 p.m. in the Dodge Room, Reed Campus Center. The lectures are free and open to the public.

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Poet Nikky Finney Visits Campus October 27

Nikky Finney at Williston

Poet Nikky Finney, recently nominated for a National Book Award, will be visiting the Williston Northampton School campus on Thursday, October 27 at 7:00 p.m. as part of this year’s Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of four collections of poetry: On Wings Made of Gauze; Rice, recipient of a PEN America Open Book Award; The World Is Round, recipient of the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Award for Poetry; and Head Off & Split. A recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women Artists Fellowship Award and The Governor’s Award in the Arts, Finney has taught at Smith College and Berea College, and is a former faculty member at Cave Canem, a writing home for African American poets.

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Author Andre Dubus III Visits on October 11

The 14th Writers’ Workshop Series continues with author Andre Dubus III on October 11, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. in the Dodge Room of the Reed Campus Center.

Andre Dubus III is the author of a collection of short fiction, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories; the novels Bluesman, House of Sand and Fog, and The Garden of Last Days; and a memoir, Townie. Published in 20 languages and made into an Academy Award-nominated motion picture, House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Booksense Book of the Year. It was also an Oprah Book Club Selection and reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Dubus has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Magazine Award for fiction, and the Pushcart Prize. He is a member of PEN American Center, has served as a panelist for The National Book Foundation and The National Endowment for the Arts, and has taught at Harvard University, Tufts University, Emerson College, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell where he is a full-time faculty member.

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2011 Writers’ Workshop Series

Williston hosts four acclaimed authors this fall as part of the 14th annual Writers’ Workshop Series. Each author will offer public readings and discussions of their work. The series kicks off with author Lynne Barrett on October 4 at 7:00 p.m.

All presentations, which are free and open to the public, take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Dodge Room of the Reed Campus Center at The Williston Northampton School. For more information, please call 413-529-3311 or email twolfe@williston.com.

Lynne Barrett
October 4, 7:00 p.m.

Lynne Barrett is the author of three story collections, The Secret Names of Women, The Land of Go, and Magpies. She co-edited Birth: A Literary Companion and The James M. Cain Cookbook. Her work has appeared in Delta Blues, A Dixie Christmas, Miami Noir, One Year to a Writing Life, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Night Train, The Southern Women’s Review, and many other anthologies and journals. She has received the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery story from the Mystery Writers of America and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches in the MFA program at Florida International University, edits The Florida Book Review, and lives in Miami.

 

Andre Dubus III
October 11, 7:00 p.m.

Andre Dubus III is the author of a collection of short fiction, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories; the novels Bluesman, House of Sand and Fog, and The Garden of Last Days; and a memoir, Townie. Published in 20 languages and made into an Academy Award-nominated motion picture, House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Booksense Book of the Year. It was also an Oprah Book Club Selection and reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Dubus has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Magazine Award for fiction, and the Pushcart Prize. He is a member of PEN American Center, has served as a panelist for The National Book Foundation and The National Endowment for the Arts, and has taught at Harvard University, Tufts University, Emerson College, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell where he is a full-time faculty member.

Nikky Finney
October 27, 7:00 p.m.

Nikky Finney is the author of four collections of poetry: On Wings Made of Gauze; Rice, recipient of a PEN America Open Book Award; The World Is Round, recipient of the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Award for Poetry; and Head Off & Split. She also wrote Heartwood, a collection of short stories for literacy students, and edited The Ringing Ear, an anthology of African American poets writing and reflecting on that historical American geography known as “the South.” A recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women Artists Fellowship Award and The Governor’s Award in the Arts, Finney has taught at Smith College and Berea College, and is a former faculty member at Cave Canem, a writing home for African American poets. She is presently professor of creative writing at the University of Kentucky.

Alison Pace
November 1, 7:00 p.m.

Alison Pace is the author of five novels: If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend, Pug Hill, Through Thick and Thin, City Dog, and A Pug’s Tale. Her essays have appeared in several anthologies including It’s a Wonderful Lie: The Truth About Life in Your Twenties, Everything I Needed to Know about Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, and Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit. She lives in New York City where she teaches creative writing and is at work on another book.

Journalist Thomas French Completes Writers’ Series

thomas frenchThe 13th Writers’ Workshop Series ends with author and journalist Thomas French on November 30, 2010, 7:00 p.m. in the Dodge Room in the Reed Campus Center. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Thomas French was a feature journalist for the St. Petersburg Times where he wrote seminal pieces such as ‘A Cry In The Night’, a story that “made a model for the rest of us to follow,” according to Washington Post reporter Anne Hull.

In 2009, his book Zoo Story was published. Based on six years of research, the book chronicles the inner world of Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo by following a cast of animals through their adventures of captivity and addressing the moral complexities of zoo life. He has appeared on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and most recently on the “Colbert Report.” In 2008, French returned to his alma mater Indiana University where he has since served on the faculty of the Indiana University School of Journalism.

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