Reading Series
The UTSA Creative Writing Reading Series was inaugurated in 1983 when Carolyn Forché read on a Friday afternoon to a room of 100 people. Over the years the series has hosted such writers as Mary Oliver, Ernest Gaines, Tobias Wolff, Denise Levertov, Alberto Ríos, Pat Mora, Diane Wakoski, Edward Hirsch, and many other poets and fiction writers who not only give public readings but also visit classes and meet with students about their writing. We’ve had as many as twelve readings by visiting writers in a year but have settled on three or four annually as an ideal number.This reading series is made possible through the generosity of our Donors.
Catherine Bowman
October 21, 2011—7:30 p.m.
University Room (BB 2.06.04)
Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry at Indiana University, Catherine Bowman is the author of 1-800-Hot-Ribs (Gibbs-Smith, 1993; reissued Carnegie Mellon, 2010), Rock Farm (Gibbs-Smith, 1996), Notarikon (Four Way Books, 2006), and The Plath Cabinet (Four Way Books, 2009). Her writing has been awarded the Peregrine Smith Poetry Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a Dobie Paisano Fellowship, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and four Yaddo fellowships. Her poems have appeared in Best American Poetry as well as numerous anthologies and journals. She is editor of Word of Mouth: Poems Featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
Jessica Helen Lopez
January 27, 2012—7:30 p.m.
University Room (BB 2.06.04)
A three-time member of the City of Albuquerque Slam Team and the 2008 National Champion UNM Lobo Slam Team, Jessica Lopez has been the Poet-in-Residence in several New Mexico high schools and continues her work in the classroom as well as with not-for-profit poetic events in New Mexico. Her first collection of poetry is Always Messing With Them Boys (West End Press, 2011). Her work has also been published in UNM Press’s A Bigger Boat: The Unlikely Success of the Albuquerque Slam Scene, Chicago Open Mic America, Volume 1, Feminism Now, and Poetic Diversity.
This reading is sponsored in conjunction with The Macondo Foundation, which works with dedicated and compassionate writers who view their work and talents as part of a larger task of community-building and non-violent social change. To learn more about Macondo’s Writing Workshops, Grants and Residencies, visit them at: macondoworkshop.org
John Phillip Santos
February 17, 2012—7:30 p.m.
University Room (BB 2.06.04)
Recipient of the Academy of American Poets’ Prize, the Oxford Prize for fiction, and the Berlin Prize Fellowship at the American Academy, John Phillip Santos’ Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation (Penguin, 1999) was a finalist for the National Book Award. Other books include The Farthest Home is an Empire of Fire (Viking, 2010) and Songs Older Than Any Known Singer: Selected and New Poems (Wings Press, 2007). Santos has published dozens of articles in such places as the Los Angeles Times, San Antonio Express News, and the New York Times, and has also produced over forty documentaries. He is the University Distinguished Scholar in Mestizo Cultural Studies in UTSA’s Honors College.
Free Parking is available for all Reading Series Events at the 1604 Campus in unmarked spaces in Lot #5. Short-term metered parking is available in the South Garage, in the North Garage, and in Lots #7 and #8. For a detailed map, click here.