M.F.A. Reading Series
These events are free and open to the public; sponsored by the Hearst Visiting Scholars Fund and the Klein Family Fund.
Spring 2019 M.F.A. Reading Series
All readings will take place in the Hilda and Michael Bogomolny Room on the 5th floor of the UB Student Center (21 W. Mt. Royal Ave.).
- Thursday, March 28, 7 p.m.
zakia henderson-brown
reading and book signing for What Kind of Omen Am I
zakia henderson-brown is the author of What Kind of Omen Am I, winner of the 2017 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship, selected by Cate Marvin. She is a Cave Canem graduate fellow and was a 2016 Poets House Emerging Poets fellow.
She has received additional fellowships and support from the Fine Arts Work Center, Callaloo Journal, and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Her poems have appeared in Adroit, African American Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Little Patuxent Review, North American Review, Washington Square Review, Vinyl, and others. She has been in residence at the T.S. Eliot House, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Louis Armstrong House Museum. zakia earned an MFA in Poetry and Literary Translation from Queens College and a BA from Wesleyan University. She is an Editor and the Strategic Partnerships Coordinator at nonprofit publisher The New Press, and lives in her native Brooklyn.
- Monday, April 29, 7 p.m.
Jane Friedman
shop talk with the author of The Business of Writing
Award-winning blogger, speaker and author, Jane Friedman has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry with expertise in business strategy for authors and publishers. Since 2001 Friedman has spoken at hundreds of venues, including writing conferences, industry events and creative writing programs. About modern changes facing the publishing industry, Friedman says, “I have a special interest in how the digital age is transforming writing careers, publishing and storytelling . . . I don’t think that business and art must be at odds—I believe they can inform and push each other to flourish.”
Friedman is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential industry newsletter for authors. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com; her expertise has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, PBS, and many others.
Her newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), an educational tool for new and working writers alike. Publishers Weekly calls it “destined to become a staple reference book for writers and those interested in publishing careers.”
Friedman was honored with the Virginia Writers Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
- Saturday, May 11, 1-5 p.m.
MFA Graduate Reading and Book Festival
The 2019 MFA graduates will read from their thesis projects—books that they wrote, designed and produced—and offer them for sale.
Recent Visiting Writers
Michael Chabon
Patricia Smith
Ann Patchett
Teju Cole
M.F.A. Reading Series Summary
Fall 2006 – Fall 2018
The reading series was launched in Fall 2006. Our schedule includes two student readings per academic year as well as full-time and adjunct faculty readings. Here are some of the writers who have spoken at UB:
Harry Bauld
Robert Bausch
Jan Beatty
Maud Casey
Michael Chabon
Teju Cole
Gayle Danley
Mark Doty
Larry Doyle
Jehanne Dubrow
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Annie Finch
Rob Fitterman
Nick Flynn
Jaimy Gordon
Joe Harrison
Amy Hempel
John Hodgman and friends
Richard McCann
Megan McShea
James Magruder
Alice Mattison
Rick Moody
Anna Moschovakis, ed.
Susan Perabo
Ann Patchett
Cherise Pollard
Susan Kushner Resnick
Adam Robinson (Publishing Genius Press)
Joseph Scapellato
Param Anand Singh
Patricia Smith
Debra Spark
Gerald Stern
Jeannie Vanasco
Adam Zagajewski
Ugly Duckling Presse