Clifford Thompson	Bill Kartalopoulos	Cyrus Cassells	Carole Maso	David Marion Wilkinson

The University of Houston-Victoria/American Book Review Series will kick off its 10th year with a new venue and a diverse lineup of distinguished authors.

Visiting authors will read selections from their poems, novels, essays and comics in the new Kay and Ron Walker Auditorium located inside UHV University North, 3007. N. Ben Wilson St. The university’s new academic and economic development building is slated to open in August.

The Walkers donated $250,000 to name the 200-seat auditorium. Due to its growing popularity, the series has outgrown its previous home in the university’s Alcorn Auditorium.

Jeffrey Di Leo

“The Kay and Ron Walker Auditorium will be a wonderful new home for the series,” said Jeffrey Di Leo, dean of the UHV School of Arts & Sciences and editor of ABR. “I’d like to thank the Walkers for their support of this new facility and their generous patronage to ABR through the years. We are opening the new venue with an outstanding lineup of authors who have a wide appeal.”

The authors in the fall series have taught nonfiction writing, poetry, novel writing and the history of comics. Collectively, they have appeared in a documentary, directed programming for art festivals, written jazz essays, penned a pregnancy journey and earned numerous awards.

“I’m sure the experiences and stories these authors have accumulated through the years are fascinating,” Di Leo said. “I’m looking forward to them sharing their work and perspectives with our students and local community members.”

Writers scheduled for the Fall 2015 UHV/ABR Reading Series are:

Clifford Thompson, Aug. 31 – Thompson received a Whiting Writers’ Award for nonfiction in 2013 for “Love for Sale and Other Essays,” published by Autumn House Press, which also published his memoir, “Twin of Blackness.” His essays on books, film, jazz and American identity have appeared in numerous publications, including Film Quarterly and The Los Angeles Review of Books. He is the author of a novel, “Signifying Nothing.” A resident of Brooklyn, Thompson has been an adjunct professor at Columbia University and New York University.

Bill Kartalopoulos, Sept. 24 – Kartalopoulos is the series editor for the Best American Comics series published annually by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He teaches comics history at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Kartalopoulos has directed programming for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, SPX: The Small Press Expo, and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Arts Festival. He served as a studio assistant to celebrated cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

Cyrus Cassells, Oct. 15 – Cassells is the author of five acclaimed books of poetry: “The Mud Actor,” “Soul Make a Path through Shouting,” “Beautiful Signor,” “More Than Peace and Cypresses” and “The Crossed-Out Swastika.” His sixth book, “The Gospel according to Wild Indigo,” is forthcoming. Cassells is a professor of English at Texas State University. Among his honors are a Lannan Literary Award, a William Carlos Williams Award and a Lambda Literary Award.

Carole Maso, Nov. 5 – Maso is the author of 10 books, including the novels “The Art Lover,” “Ava,” “Defiance” and “Mother & Child.” Her poems in prose include the 1969 book “Aureole Beauty” and the 2011 book “Beauty is Convulsive.” She also is the author of an essays book, “Break Every Rule,” and a journal of pregnancy and birth, “The Room Lit By Roses.” Maso is a professor of literary arts at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

David Marion Wilkinson, Dec. 3 – Wilkinson is an award-winning author and screenwriter. He has written five books, including “Not Between Brothers: an Epic Novel of Texas” and “One Ranger: a Memoir.” Much of his published work has been optioned for film or television projects. In 2015, Wilkinson appeared in the History Channel documentary “Avenging the Alamo: The Road to Texas Rising.” Wilkinson divides his time between Austin and Los Angeles. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and Western Writers of America.

All readings will take place from noon to 1 p.m. and are free and open to public.

Authors will be available after each reading to sign copies of their books, which can be purchased at the events. Each author will meet with students and attend functions in the community.

ABR is a nonprofit, internationally distributed literary journal published six times a year. It began in 1977, moved to UHV in 2006 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.