Thursday, October 27, 2011

Acclaimed writer and visiting professor Steve Almond will be the keynote speaker for the University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Creative Writing's Fall 2011 Writers Week Symposium. Almond's most recent story collection, God Bless America Stories, was published by Lookout Books, the department's imprint, in October. Almond will read from his work at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17 in Lumina Theatre.

Writers Week, Nov. 14­­-18, will bring together visiting writers of local and national interest, publishing professionals, UNC Wilmington students and members of the public with an interest in literature. The symposium will include workshops, panels, readings and manuscript conferences.

Steve Almond is the author of the story collections The Evil B.B. Chow and My Life in Heavy Metal, the novel Which Brings Me to You (with Julianna Baggott), and the nonfiction books Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life, (Not That You Asked) and Candyfreak. His stories have appeared in Playboy, Zoetrope, Ploughshares and Ecotone, among others, and have been reprinted in Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize. In November he will serve as a visiting fiction professor in the MFA program in creative writing at UNCW.

Other visiting writers and editors will include Margaret Bauer, Earl S. Braggs, Carol Ann Fitzgerald, Tom Grimes, Melissa Range, Leslie Rubinkowski, Marc Smirnoff, Ashley Warlick, Jesse Waters and Luke Whisnant. For their biographies, as well as a detailed schedule of events, please visit www.uncw.edu/writers .

All events are free and open to the public. Receptions sponsored by the department and book signings sponsored by Pomegranate Books will follow readings. For further information on UNCW's programs and events in creative writing, please contact the Department of Creative Writing at 910.962.7063.

Media Contact:

Joy Davis, Marketing and Communications, 910.632.3903 or davisjc@uncw.edu