Pacific Lutheran University

The series is part of PLU's master of fine arts in creative writing summer residency program. The readings are free and open to the public, and run from Aug. 5 to 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Xavier Hall, room 201. [Note: Trethewey’s August 11 reading will begin at 8 p.m.]

• Sunday, August 5, Lola Haskins and Gary Ferguson: Poet and environmental writer Lola Haskins recently retired from the University of Florida, where she taught in the computer and information sciences department. Her poetry collection, “Hunger,” won the 1993 Iowa Poetry Prize. Gary Ferguson is the author of 16 books on nature, science and history. His recent work, “Hawks Rest,” is the first book in history to win nonfiction Book of the Year from both the Pacific Northwest and Mountains and Plains bookseller associations.


• Monday, August 6, Jess Walter and Fleda Brown: Jess Walter is the author of four novels. His most recent, “The Zero,” was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award and won the 2007 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. Poet and essayist Fleda Brown is a professor of English at the University of Delaware and has published four books of poems. Her poems have been used as texts for several prize-winning musical compositions, and her book “Breathing In, Breathing Out” received the first annual Levine Poetry Prize.


• Tuesday, August 7, Adrianne Harun and Mary Clearman Blew: Author Adrianne Harun’s stories have appeared in numerous journals. She received a Nelson Algren Award from the Chicago Tribune and a MacDowell Fellowship. Mary Clearman Blew is an English professor at the University of Idaho, Moscow. Her fiction and nonfiction work reflect her upbringing on a small Montana cattle ranch.


• Wednesday, August 8, Linda Bierds and Kent Meyers: Poet Linda Bierds is the author of seven collections of poetry, and her work frequently appears in The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly. She has received numerous awards, including grants from the Ingram-Merrill and John Simon Guggenheim foundations. Bierds teaches in the MFA program at the University of Washington in Seattle. Kent Meyers is an associate professor and writer-in-residence at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D. His short story “Rodney Valen’s Second Life” is one of 20 pieces that will be included in the next edition of Best in American Mystery Stories.


• Friday, August 10, Sherry Simpson and Ann Pancake: Nonfiction writer Sherry Simpson’s book, “The Way Winter Comes,” won the inaugural Chinook Prize from Sasquatch Books, and a series of short essays she wrote appeared in a photographic book on Glacier Bay National Park. Fiction writer Ann Pancake’s published fiction collection, “Given Ground,” won the 2000 Bakeless Literary Prize for fiction. Her work has appeared in various periodical publications, and she was also the 2003 Whiting Foundation and 2004 Pushcart Prize winner.


• Saturday, August 11 at 8 p.m., Natasha Trethewey and Albert Goldbarth: Natasha Trethewey is a poet whose most recent collection, “Native Guard,” won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Trethewey is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Poet and essayist Albert Goldbarth is the author of creative essays, a novel and more than 20 collections of poetry. He is a two-time National Book Critic Circle Award winner, and he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the PEN West Award and three NEA fellowships.


• Monday, August 13, Stephen Corey and David Huddle: Poet and essayist Stephen Corey has served as the associate and acting editor of the literary journal, The Georgia Review. His essays have appeared in numerous periodicals and he co-edited the essay anthology, “Spreading The Word: Editors On Poetry.” David Huddle’s fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in Esquire, Harper's Magazine and The New York Times Magazine. He was the recipient of two NEA fellowships, and he teaches writing at the University of Vermont.

For more information on the readings, call ext. 7221. To learn more about the MFA in creative writing, visit www.plu.edu/~mfa.