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Writers Reading

The Geisler Library Writers Reading Series was established in 1987 to promote an appreciation of books and their authors. The series features locally, nationally and internationally known writers reading and discussing their fiction and/or nonfiction works.. Past guests have included such writers as Maxine Kumin, James Galvin, Rebecca Wee, Sabina Murray, Ethan Canin, Barbara Robinette Moss, Marilynne Robinson, Ted Kooser, Robert Dana, Jane Hirshfield, Patricia Hampl, Richard Powers, James Alan McPherson, and Kay Ryan as well as Central College faculty and students. In cooperation with the Central College Book Store, copies of authors' works are made available for purchase. Readings are free and open to the public. Join us! For information about Writers Reading, contact Natalie Hutchinson, Director of the Geisler Library Writers Reading Program. (641-628-5220, hutchinsonn@central.edu)

Current Series | 2010-11 | 2009-10 | 2008-09 | 2007-08 | 2006-07 | 2005-06 | 2004-05 | 2003-04 | 2002-03 | 2001-02
2000-01 | 1999-00 | 1998-99 | 1997-98 | 1996-97

2011-12 Series

Harriet Washington
September 15, 2011, 7:30 p.m., Cox-Snow Recital Hall
Harriet Washington, award-winning medical writer and editor, reads from her best-selling book Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present. In her work, Dr. Washington focuses mainly upon bioethics, the history of medicine, African American health issues, and the intersection of medicine, ethics and culture. Medical Apartheid, the first social history of medical research with African Americans, won the National Book Critics Circle Nonfiction Award and a PEN award, and was chosen as one of Publishers’ Weekly Best Books of 2006.

Louis Jenkins
October 20, 2011, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room
Poet Louis Jenkins reads from his collected poems and new work. Mr. Jenkins’ poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. His most recent books are North of the Cities (2007), European Shoes (2008) and Before You Know It: Prose Poems 1970-2005(2009). Mr. Jenkins has read his poetry on A Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on The Writers Almanac. He has also worked with Mark Rylance, actor and former director of the Globe Theatre, on a stage production titled Nice Fish!, which is based on Mr. Jenkins poems.

Shirley Damsgaard
December 1, 2011, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room
(In collaboration with the Pella Public Library)
Mystery writer Shirley Damsgaard will read from the most recent book in her Ophelia and Abby series, The Seventh Witch. This popular mystery series (described as “cozy mysteries that aren’t too cozy”) has charmed readers across the country. The author, who resides in a small town in Iowa, has published numerous short stories in addition to this well-received paranormal mystery series.

Ralph Savarese
January 26, 2012, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room
Ralph Savarese, Associate Professor of English at Grinnell College, reads from his poems and essays. Dr. Savarese is the author of Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption, which Newsweek called a “real life love story and a passionate manifesto for the rights of people with neurological disabilities.” It won the Independent Publishers Gold Medal in the category of health/medicine/nutrition, and a chapter was selected as a “notable essay” in the Best American Essays series of 2004. Dr. Savarese teaches American literature, creative writing, and disability studies at Grinnell College.

Keith Ratzlaff
February 16, 2012, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room
Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Poetry Prize and Professor of English at Central College, reads from his work. Mr. Ratzlaff’s debut collection, Man Under a Pear Tree, gained national recognition. Dubious Angels, published in 2006, is a remarkable volume based solely on the drawings and paintings of Paul Klee. Ratzlaff’s poems and reviews have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Georgia Review, New England Review, Threepenny Review, Colorado Review and North American Review.

Naomi Shihab Nye
March 22, 2012, 7:30 p.m., Cox-Snow Recital Hall
Naomi Shihab Nye reads from her short story collection There Is No Long Distance Now and new volume of poetry, Transfer. Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, Ms. Nye grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Drawing on her Palestinian-American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her experiences traveling in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America and the Middle East, Ms. Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity. Her writing has won many prizes and awards, including a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets and four Pushcart Prizes. Her collection of poems 19 Varieties of Gazelle was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Clint McCown
April 12th, 2012, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room
Clint McCown, creative nonfiction writer, reads from his work. Mr. McCown has published novels, poetry, and three volumes of poems. He has recently completed a fourth book of fiction, an historical novel titled Haints. He has twice won the American Fiction Prize and has received three nominations for the Pulitzer Prize. As a journalist, Mr. McCown received the Associated Press Award for Documentary Excellence for his investigations of organized crime and political corruption. He has worked as a screenwriter for Warner Bros., as a creative consultant for HBO television, and as an actor for the National Shakespeare Company. He has edited several national literary magazines, including the Beloit Fiction Journal, which he founded in 1984 and ran for twenty years. Mr. McCown currently teaches in the creative writing program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

2010-11 Series

Spring semester 2011 writers' visits were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as the generosity of the Central College Inaugural Year Team.

Mary Helen Stefaniak read from her new novel The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia. Stefaniak is a fiction and essay writer whose work has appeared in many publications, including The Iowa Review, EPOCH, Short Story, The Yale Review, AGNI, and The Antioch Review. She has also served as a commentator on Iowa Public Radio, a columnist for The Iowa Source, and a contributing editor for The Iowa Review and for Cerise Press, an online journal of art and literature.
Journalist Bryan Mealer read from his book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Mealer co-authored the book with William Kamkwamba, chronicling Kamkwamba’s effort to build windmills to provide electricity to his village in Malawi. Mealer has been an Associated Press staff correspondent in Kinshasa, Congo, and has reported from locations across the African continent. His writing has appeared in Harper's and Esquire, among others.
Poet Ellen Bryant Voigt read from her collected work. Voigt is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006. Her book Shadow of Heaven was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her book Kyrie was a finalist for the National Book Critic's Circle Award. Ms. Voigt will be in residence at Central College November 2nd-4th.
Walter Cannon, Professor of English at Central College, read his poetry. In addition to scholarly work on Shakespeare in performance and performance history, Cannon has published poetry in a variety of journals and literary reviews— Sidewalks, Flyway, Slant, Mid-America Poetry Review, Icarus International, Nimrod, The Blue Earth Review, Water-Stone Review, and The Turtle Quarterly. He has been first prize winner for the annual Lyrical Iowa contest and semi-finalist for the Emily Dickinson prize published in E by Universities West Press.
Dr. Robert Leonard, creative writer and Special News Editor for KNIA/KRLS radio of Knoxville/Pella, read from his book Yellow Cab and other works.
Essayist John D'Agata reads from his recent book About a Mountain. D’Agata is the editor of The Next American Essay, which is an anthology of innovative nonfiction and the first in a projected 3-volume study of the history of alternative forms of the essay. He is a member of the faculty of the nonfiction writing program at the University of Iowa.
Writer Alexandra Fuller reads selections from her work. Her debut, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, was a New York Times Notable Book. Her second book, Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier, won the Ulysses Prize for Art of Reportage. Her latest book, The Legend of Colton H. Bryant, tells the story of the brief life and tragic early death of a third-generation oil rig worker in Wyoming. Fuller has also written extensively for magazines and newspapers including The New Yorker and National Geographic.
Author Terry Tempest Williams read from her work. Known for her impassioned and lyrical prose, Ms. Williams is the author of the environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. Her other books include An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert; The Open Space of Democracy, and her most recent book, Finding Beauty in a Broken World. She is a columnist for the magazine The Progressive. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Orion Magazine, and numerous anthologies worldwide as a crucial voice for ecological consciousness and social change.

2009-10 Series

Spring 2010 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Friends of Central Arts.

Kyoko Nakajima read from Jochu-tan, her recent collection of three novellas.
Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, read from her award-winning book Enrique’s Journey.
John Price read from his memoir Man Killed By Pheasant.
Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Poetry Prize and Professor of English at Central College, read from then, a thousand crows, his most recent book of poems.
Joshua Dolezal, creative writer and Central College Assistant Professor of English, read from new essays and poems.
Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate, read from her newest collection The Best of It: New and Selected Poems.
Nancy Carlson, noted children’s author/illustrator, read from her work and discussed the writing/illustrating process in children’s literature.
The poets of the Central College Advanced Poetry Class read from their semester’s work. Each poet read from the book that he or she created in partnership with a Central College art student.

2008-09 Series

Spring 2009 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Friends of Central Arts, and the Central College Theatre Department.

Beverly Rivera Davis, journalist and biographer, read from her award-winning biography David and Liz: Dancing Through Love.
Richard Powers, winner of the 2006 National Book Award, read selections from works in progress. This program was made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.
Rick Campbell read from his newest book of poems, Dixmont.
Nahid Rachlin read from her memoir, Persian Girls.
Joe Plum, award-winning poet in the oral tradition, spoke poems from a variety of his works.
Jon Berry, playwright, read from a variety of his works.
Patricia Hampl read from her memoir The Florist’s Daughter and other works.
Jann Freed, Professor of Business Management and Mark & Kay DeCook Chair in Character & Leadership Development at Central College, read from her work Daring to Be.
Dr. Danielle Ofri read from her book of essays Incidental Findings: Lessons From My Patients on the Art of Medicine and other works.

2007-08 Series

Spring 2008 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Friends of Central Arts, Pella Community High School, and the Central College Theatre Department.

Jonathan Franzen, critically acclaimed author, read from his essays in The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History and from his international best selling novel The Corrections. This program was made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.
Lory Wallfisch, Romanian-born pianist and Professor Emerita of Music at Smith College, read from her new translation of eminent Romanian composer Pascal Bentoiu's Enescu's Masterworks.
Shirin Zubair, Central College Visiting Fulbright Scholar, read and discussed Pakistani women's diaries and poetry.
James McKean, poet and essayist, read from his memoir Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports.
Katie Orazem, Ames (IA) High senior and winner of the prestigious Davidson Institute for Talen Development scolarship poet and essayist, read from "After Elegies", her portfolio of poems, essays, and short stories.
Glenn Freeman, winner of the Elixir Press Poetry Prize, read from his new collection Keeping the Tigers Behind Us.
Philip Webber, Professor of German at Central College, read from his new book Zoar in the Civil War.
Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Poetry Prize and Professor of English at Central College, read from new works.
Debra Marquart, creative writer, read from her memoir The Horizontal World: Growing up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere.
Sharon Olds, winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award, reads from her collection Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980-2002 and O Western Wind.
James Alan McPherson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his short story collection Elbow Room and the first African American to receive the award, read from his works.
Central College Advanced Poetry Class members read from their work.

2006-07 Series

Spring 2007 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Friends of Central Arts, Pella Community High School, the Central College Theatre Department, and the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.

Rekha Basu, award-winning columnist for the Des Moines Register, read and discussed her essays.
Lan Samantha Chang, award-winning fiction writer and new director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, read from her novel Inheritance.
18th Century German Poetry and Music: An das Klavier (To the Clavichord) poems with music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Poetry read by Michael Herrick in the original German with English translations, and rondos and fantasias played on clavichord by Carol lei Breckenridge, Central College's Joan Farver Professor of Music.
Mimi Khalvati, member of the International Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, read from her collection The Chine and other new works.
Jon Witt, Central College Associate Professor of Sociology, read and discussed his new book The Big Picture: A Sociology Primer. Witt cuts to the core of the sociological perspective on how our actions shape the world around us and how we are shaped by the worlds we live in.
Joshua Dolezal, creative writer and Central College Assistant Professor of English, read from new essays and poems.
Carol Bly, critically acclaimed essayist and creative fiction writer, performed a short story from her repertoire.
Ruth David, Kindertransport youth, read and discussed her memoir Child of Our Time: A Young Girl's Flight From the Holocaust.
Robert Dana, Iowa Poet Laureate and winner of the Anhinga Prize, reads from his collection Morning of the Red Admirals and other new work.
Jane Hirshfield, distinguished American poet, essayist and translator, read from her new collection After, and from Given Sugar, Given Salt (finalist for the National Critics Circle Award).
Garvice Brannon, Eric Davis and Nate Forsythe, Central College graduating poets read from their works.

2005-06 Series

Spring 2006 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Friends of Central Arts and Pella Community High School.

Marilynne Robinson, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and National Critics Circle Award, read from her new novel, Gilead. This program was made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.
Lavonne Mueller, internationally acclaimed playwright, along with a cast of Central College students, read and discussed selections from her Off-Broadway productions Hotel Splendid and 9/11. Mueller was Central's 2005 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Visiting Fellow.
Donald Harstad, nationally acclaimed crime/mystery writer read from his latest thriller A Long December.
Jennifer New, writer and teacher, read from her best selling book Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art.
Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry and Central College Professor of English, read from Dubious Angels and other new works.
Ted Kooser, U S Poet Laureate, read from his Pulitzer Prize winning collection Delights & Shadows and other works. Kooser is a major poetic voice and the first National Poet Laureate from the Great Plains.
Jeffrey Thomson, Academy of American Poets Prize winner, read from his new collection Renovation and other works.
Richard Terrill, award winning poet and essayist, read from his new collection Coming Late to Rachmaninoff and creative nonfiction works.
U Sam Oeur, celebrated Cambodian poet, with award-winning poet and translator Ken McCullough, read from Oeur's memoir Crossing Three Wildernesses, a breathtaking and haunting portrait of the people, myths and traditions of Cambodia before, during and after the devastating reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
Central College Advanced Poetry Students read from their new works.

2004-05 Series

Spring 2005 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Charles Baxter, nationally acclaimed novelist, read from Feast of Love, Saul & Patsy and other works. Program made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.
Robert Wolf, essayist, playwright, and winner of the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Radio Broadcasting, read from An American Mosaic.
Emily Wilson, poet and Visiting Faculty Member at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, read from The Keep.
Curtis Bauer, Winner of the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry and Central College Graduate, read from Fence Line.
Anya Butt, Central College Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, read translations from her family memoir 6000 Kilometer Sehnsucht [Six-thousand Kilometers Yearning].
James Galvin, acclaimed poet and faculty member at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop read from X: poems and other works.
Emily Lupita Plum, poet and Central College graduate, read from Water and Stone: A Story in Poetry from Japan and other new poems.
Sabina Murray, novelist and Pen/Faulkner Award Winner, read from Carnivore's Inquiry and The Caprices.
Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate, read from Sailing Alone Around the Room and other works. Program made possible through a collaboration with Pella High School, the Des Moines Poetry Festival and Central College with special funds from Pella Corporation, Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

2003-04 Series--Celebrating Central College's Sesquicentennial

Stephen Corey, Poet and Associate Editor of The Georgia Review read from Greatest Hits and other new poems.
Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet, Essayist and Novelist read from her new poetry collection The Long Marriage.
Roderic Ai Camp, Renowned Mexicanist and author of twenty books read from Mexico's Mandarins: Crafting a Power Elite for the 21st Century.
Robert Schanke, Theatre Scholar and Biographer read from That Furious Lesbian: the Story of Mercedes de Acosta and Women in Turmoil: Six Plays by Mercedes de Acosta.
James Autry, Mississippi Writer and Businessman read from Nights Under a Tin Roof and other poems.
Keith Ratzlaff, Iowa Poet and Central College Professor of English read new works.
Lynne Sharon Schwartz, Novelist, Poet, Non-fiction writer and Visiting Woodrow Wilson Scholar read from Ruined By Reading: A Life in Books and other works.
Mary Swander, winner of the Whiting Award and Distinguished Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from her new memoir The Desert Pilgrim.
Central College Advanced Poetry students read from their new works.

2002-03 Series

John Smolens, critically acclaimed novelist and professor of English at Northern Michigan University, read from his literary thriller, Cold.
Ethan Canin, renowned novelist and teacher at the Iowa Writers Workshop, read from his new novel Carry Me Across the Water.
R. McKenna Brown, Professor of Spanish and Director of the International Studies Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, read his translations of Pedro Gonza'les's The Dry Season: Q'anjob'al Maya Poems.
Todd Davis, poet and Writer in Residence at Iowa State University, read from his new collection Ripe.
Jonene Bichel Van Meter, Central College graduate and poet, read from her new works.
Joyce Sutphen, winner of Poetry Magazine's Teitjen Prize, the Loft-McKnight Poetry Award and Professor of creative writing at Gustavus Adolphus, read from Coming Back to the Body.
Rebecca Wee, winner of the Hayden Curruth Poetry Prize and professor of writing at Augustana College, read from Uncertain Grace.
Walter Cannon, Professor of English at Central College and poet, along with members of the Poetry Writing class, read from their new works.

2001-02 Series

Robert Schultz, poet, novelist and Professor of English at Luther College, read poetry from Winter in Eden and excerpts from his novel, The Madhouse Nudes.
Kevin Stein, award winning poet and Professor of English at Bradley University, read from his new collection Chance Ransom.
Catherine Rosemurgy, award winning poet and Assistant Professor of English at Northwest Missouri State University, read from her new collection My Favorite Apocalypse.
Larry Baker, novelist, house detective, sports writer, drive-in movie theater manager, and former Iowa City zoning commission member, read from his acclaimed novel Flamingo Rising.
Joe Plum, award-winning poet in the oral tradition, said poems from his collection Portage of the Soul. This program was made possible by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council.
Ray Young Bear, nationally acclaimed poet, fiction writer and essayist from the Meskwaki community in Tama read from his new poetry collection The Rock Island Hiking Club.
Debra Marquart, fiction writer, poet, Rock and Roll musician and Assistant Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from her short story collection The Hunger Bone and from her forthcoming poetry collection.
Members of the Central College Advanced Poetry Class read from their works.

2000-2001 Series

Robert Dana, distinguished Iowa poet and winner of the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award, read from Summer.
Donald Caswell, Kansas City poet, teacher, newspaper writer, and currently the director of communications for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, read from 3-Legged Dog.
Keith Ratzlaff, award-winning poet and member of the Central College English faculty, read from new work. Ratzlaff is the winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry and author of 4 chapbooks and 2 poetry collections.
Walter Cannon, Central College Professor of English, read new and selected poems.
Marvin Bell, Poet Laureate of Iowa and long-time teacher at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, read from Nightworks: Poems 1962-2000.
Barbara Robinette Moss, winner of the William Faulkner Creative Writing Award, read from her stunning memoir Change Me into Zeus's Daughter.

1999-2000 Series

Marilynne Robinson, award winning essayist and faculty member at the Iowa Writers Workshop, read from The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought and her acclaimed novel Housekeeping
Don Morrill, winner of the Midlist Press poetry prize, read from At the Bottom of the Sky and new works
Lovell Beaulieu, Des Moines Register editorial writer, read and discussed his essays on American politics and society
Don and Maxine Huffman, Central College Professors Emeriti, read and discussed their book, The New College English, published for Chinese students at Zhejiang University
Chris Offutt, critically acclaimed author of Same River Twice and Good Brother and visiting writer at the Iowa Writers Workshop, read from new short stories
Sheryl St. Germain, award winning poet and Assistant Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from Making Bread at Midnight and The Journals of Scheherazade.
Curtis Bauer, poet and Central College graduate, read from new works and translations of the Catalan poet, Jose Maria Fonollosa
Fern Kupfer, essayist and Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from Before & After Zachariah and new personal essays

1998-99 Series

U Sam Oeur, Cambodian poet (with poet & translator Ken McCullough) Sacred Vows, U's poetic retelling of the Cambodian killing fields
Gary Gildner, poet & Iowa Prize winner, Bunker in the Parsley Field
Kevin Stein, poet & Professor of English at Bradley University, Bruised Paradise
Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Prize for poetry & Central College Professor of English, Across the Known World
David Williams, Central College Professor of Music, Celebrating George Enescu
Robert Schanke, theatre historian & Central College Professor of Theatre, Passing Performances: Queer Reading of Leading Players in American Theater History
Margaret Gibson, poet, Earth Elegy; and David McKain, non-fiction writer, new essays; Woodrow Wilson visiting scholars
Robert Hellenga, acclaimed novelist and Professor of English at Knox College, The Fall of the Sparrow

1997-98 Series

Ray Young Bear (Poet, Singer, Novelist) Remnants of the First Earth
Roger Mitchell (Poet & Professor of Creative Writing at Indiana University) The Word for Everything
Jann Freed (Central College Professor of Management) Quality Principles and Practices in Higher Education: Different Questions for Different Times
Joyce Sutphen (Poet & Professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus) Straight Out of View
Dean Young (Poet) Strike Anywhere
Karen Swenson (Poet & Travel Writer) The Landlady in Bangkok
Central College Advanced Poetry Class Members "New Works"

1996-97 Series

Harriet Heusinkveld (Geographer)
Ellen Bryant Voigt (Poet)
Paul Zimmer (Poet and Editor)
Keith Ratzlaff (Poet)
Dorothy Schwieder (Iowa Historian)
Robley Wilson (Novelist and Editor)
Doug Brown (Radio Artist from the WOI Book Club)

For information about Writers Reading, contact Natalie Hutchinson, Director of the Geisler Library Writers Reading Program. (641-628-5220, hutchinsonn@central.edu)