THE NEW SCHOOL PUBLIC PROGRAMS: LITERARY EVENTS

Fall 2007

NEW YORK, August 10, 2007—This fall, The New School and its Writing Program present a wide range of literary events and readings. Highlights include an 85th birthday tribute to Grace Paley (Dec. 12), featuring readings by Paley and fellow writers and activists. In addition, a selection of notable writers will read from their latest work and take part in discussions moderated by New School Writing Program faculty, including Kurt Andersen (Sept. 17), Edmund White (Oct. 1), Joan Acocella (Oct. 15), Carolyn Forché (Nov. 14); and David Shapiro (Dec. 11).

Noted author, music journalist and cultural critic Greil Marcus, who recently joined the faculty of The New School Writing Program, will host a series of readings by noted musicians and music/cultural writers including Sleater-Kinney guitarist and singer-songwriter Carrie Brownstein (Oct. 2) and New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones (Nov. 5).

The New School will present Women Writers of the Diaspora, a series of readings and discussions celebrating the body of literature written by women across the African Diaspora—African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latina, Afro-European, and continental African, including Patricia Smith (Oct. 4), Gammy L. Singer (Nov. 1), Esther Armah (Nov. 2), and Ebele Oseye (Nov. 8). The school will also present the Cave Canem Legacy (Oct. 17), one in a series of events celebrating the poetry of the African Diaspora, featuring Arnold Rampersad and Alison Meyers.

The New School will also host several award ceremonies and readings, including The Best American Poetry 2007 (Sept. 20), hosted by guest editor Heather McHugh and series editor David Lehman, poetry coordinator of the Writing Program, who will read their own work along with some of the featured poets, including former United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Alan Shapiro; The Apocalypse Reader (Oct. 4), an anthology of new and selected short stories about the end of the world; the Academy of American Poets Awards Ceremony (Oct. 19); and the National Book Award Readings (Nov. 13).

About the Writing Program at The New School
The New School has been a vital center for writing and its instruction since 1931, when Gorham Munson, a Manhattan editor and influential partisan of the Alfred Stieglitz circle, introduced his now-legendary workshop in creative writing. Since 1996, The New School has offered a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree with concentrations in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and writing for children. Founded by poet and biographer Robert Polito, the MFA program marks the latest transformation in the school’s commitment to creative writing. Over seven decades of steady innovation, The New School’s writing faculty has featured many of America’s most important poets, novelists, literary critics, and editors, including Robert Frost, W.H. Auden, Robert Lowell, and Frank O’Hara. The current faculty includes Francine Prose, Helen Schulman, Stephen Wright, Dale Peck, Vivian Gornick, Susan Cheever, Abigail Thomas, Honor Moore, Suzanna Lessard, and David Lehman. For more information, visit www.writing.newschool.edu.

EDITOR’S NOTE: FOR A FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS CLICK HERE. All public programs are subject to change.