Fall RopeWalk Visiting Writers Reading Series announced

The RopeWalk Visiting Writers Masterclass and Reading Series at the University of Southern Indiana is ready for a terrific fall semester with novelist and story writer Liam Callanan visiting campus October 1st and poet Carries Jerrell scheduled for November 5th. All events are free and open to the public – no experience with creative writing necessary!

Liam Callanan

Thursday, October 1

“Now Open: Starting Strong with Character, Action, and Rhythm in the Cotemporary Short Story” masterclass: 3-4:15 p.m., UC2207

With an eye toward crafting the strongest openings possible, Liam Callanan will lead this masterclass on how to gain your audience’s attention in the story’s first paragraphs. The class will look at several examples and close readings in order to figure out what makes them work: how do the characters get introduced, action started, and a rhythm established, all in a story’s opening lines?

Public reading: 4:30-5:30 p.m., Traditions Lounge, University Center East

Liam Callanan is the author of novels: The Cloud Atlas, an Edgar Award Finalist, and All Saints, a Target Bookmarked Breakout Book, and a new story collection Listen. Callanan also serves in the English Department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and was previously its chair and coordinator of its Ph.D. program in creative writing.

Carrie Jerrell

Thursday, November 5

“Dear Mother, Dear Maker: Writing in the Epistolary Mode” masterclass: 3-4:15 p.m., UC 2207

Poet Carrie Jerrell looks to present exactly one idea to this masterclass: you should start writing more letters. The class will briefly discuss the history of epistolary poetry, then turn to its benefits for your writing and look at examples of how cotemporary poets use the mode.

Public reading: 4:30-5:30 p.m., Traditions Lounge, University Center East

Carrie Jerrell, a graduate of John Hopkins University and Texas Tech University, is the author of the poetry collection After the Revival. She is currently an associate professor at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, where she coordinates the MSU Reading Series and teaches in the MFA program.

For more information, contact Nicole Louise Reid, director of USI’s RopeWalk Reading Series, at 812-464-1916.