Fall literary series will feature Louisville native, poet, fiction writer

October 11, 2019

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville native who writes in several genres, a poet and a fiction writer will share their work with a University of Louisville audience when they come to the city this fall for a literary series featuring distinguished writers.

The English department’s creative writing program offers the free, public readings and master classes through the Anne and William Axton Reading Series, established 20 years ago. Here’s the fall schedule; events are on the UofL Belknap Campus except for the Nov. 16 reading:

Oct. 24-25 – Mary Ann Samyn, poet and West Virginia University English professor, will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 in Bingham Poetry Room, Ekstrom Library, and lead a two-hour poetry master class at 10 a.m. Oct. 25 in Room 300, Bingham Humanities Building.

Samyn is the author of six collections, including “Air, Light, Dust, Shadow, Distance,” winner of the 2017 42 Miles Press Award, and “My Life in Heaven,” winner of the 2012 Field Poetry Prize. Her other collections are “Beauty Breaks In,” “Purr,” “Inside the Yellow Dress” and “Captivity Narrative.”

Nov. 16 – Garth Greenwell, a Louisville native, wrote the 2016 novel “What Belongs to You,” which won the British Book Award for debut of the year and was named best book that year by more than 50 publications in nine countries. He also writes poetry, literary criticism and other fiction. UofL’s Axton series will sponsor his free, public keynote at 5:30 p.m. for the Louisville Literary Arts’ Writer’s Block Festival at Spalding University’s Egan Leadership Center Lectorium, 901 S. Fourth St.

Nov. 21-22 – Casey Plett, Windsor, Ontario, fiction writer, will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 in Bingham Poetry Room, Ekstrom Library, and lead a two-hour fiction master class at 10 a.m. Nov. 22 in Room 300, Bingham Humanities Building.

Plett, a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award, wrote the 2018 novel “Little Fish” and 2015 short-story collection “A Safe Girl to Love.” She is co-editor of the anthology “Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers.”

For more information, check http://louisville.edu/axton or contact Ian Stansel at 502-852-5921 or irstan01@louisville.edu.

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