UHV/American Book Review Reading Series announces spring lineup
The University of Houston-Victoria/American Book Review Reading Series is ready to continue its 10th year with a new group of writers for its spring lineup.
The 2016 UHV/ABR Spring Reading Series will feature a graphic novelist who has used multiple forms of media in her projects, including audio and motion, and a poet who won two international poetry prizes this year. The lineup also includes three award-winning novelists, including a writer published by Dalkey Archive Press who has earned an Academy Award in Literature, a Pushcart Prize winner and the editor of the New American Stories short fiction anthology.
“Our continuing ability to bring outstanding authors, poets, graphic artists and other individuals to participate in the reading series is humbling,” said Jeffrey Di Leo, dean of the UHV School of Arts & Sciences, and ABR editor and publisher. “Our spring series will feature individuals whose talent is nationally respected and admired. I look forward to hearing their presentations and seeing them interact with our students and the Victoria community.”
Visiting authors will read selections from their poems, novels, essays and comics in the Alcorn Auditorium located inside UHV University West, 3007 N. Ben Wilson St. The auditorium has hosted nearly 90 writers to date from across the U.S. The readings will begin at noon and are free and open to the public.
“Each semester ends with the thought, ‘How can the series do better than this past semester?’” Di Leo said. “And it never fails, the next semester is even better. The spring series is shaping up to be a memorable and exciting one.”
Authors scheduled for the UHV/ABR Spring Reading Series are:
Rikki Ducornet, Jan. 28 – The author of more than 20 books including nine novels, three collections of short fiction as well as essays and poetry, Ducornet has received numerous awards, including the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, The Bard College Award in Arts and Letters and an Academy Award in Literature. “The Jade Cabinet,” published by Dalkey Archive Press, was a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle. Her novels are widely published abroad. Many of her books are available from Dalkey, including the recently re-published “The Fountains of Neptune.”
Phoebe Gloeckner, Feb. 25 – Gloeckner is a graphic novelist. Her books have been published in multiple languages, and her artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S. and Europe. A film adaptation of her book, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” was released in August by director Marielle Heller. Gloeckner has long experimented with the form of the novel. “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” is a hybrid of prose and graphic novel, and her current projects, including a novel-in-progress about a family in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, incorporate various media – audio, motion and static – with text.
Valerie Sayers, March 10 – Sayers, a professor of English at Notre Dame, is the author of six novels, including “The Powers.” Her literary honors include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Pushcart Prize and citations from The New York Times Book Review, Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays. Her stories, essays and reviews appear widely.
Ben Marcus, April 7 – Marcus is the author of several books, including the novel “The Flame Alphabet,” and a collection of short stories called “Leaving the Sea.” His fiction has appeared in Harper’s, Granta, Tin House and The New Yorker. He is the editor of New American Stories, an anthology of short fiction. Among his awards are the Berlin Prize and a Guggenheim fellowship. He lives in New York, where he is on the faculty at Columbia University.
Charles Bernstein, April 28 – Bernstein’s “Pitch of Poetry, New Essays,” will be out this spring from University of Chicago Press. His most recent book of poems is “Recalculating.” He is the Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is co-director of PennSound. In 2015, Bernstein was awarded both the Münster Prize for International Poetry and the Janus Pannonius Grand Prize for Poetry.
ABR is a nonprofit, internationally distributed literary journal published six times a year. It began in 1977, moved to UHV in 2007 and has a circulation of about 8,000. The journal specializes in reviews of works published by small presses.
For more information about the UHV/ABR Reading Series, call the ABR office at 361-570-4101 or go to www.americanbookreview.org.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
