Literary Stars to Offer Free Readings During 31st Annual Summer Writers’ Conference

Rutgers University–Camden will once again serve as the premier literary destination in South Jersey as it presents the 31st Annual Rutgers University–Camden Summer Writers’ Conference from June 27 to July 7.

Critically acclaimed authors and poets will present free public readings on select days from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Stedman Gallery on the Rutgers–Camden campus.

On Monday, June 27, Rutgers–Camden English department faculty and accomplished writers – Professor Lisa Zeidner, Assistant Professor Paul Lisicky, and Associate Professor Patrick Rosal – will lead a panel discussion titled “Writing Deep in the Age of Distraction.”

On Tuesday, June 28, Phillis Levin, author of five collections of poetry, including the newly published Mr. Memory & Other Poems, will read with Daniel Torday, author of the critically acclaimed novel The Last Flight of Poxi West.

On Wednesday, June 29, Robin Hemley, a former Guggenheim Fellow who has authored 12 books of fiction and nonfiction, will read with Diane McKinney-Whetstone, author of six novels, including the bestselling Tumbling and the recently released Lazaretto.

On Thursday, June 30, Ada Calhoun, a crime reporter for The New York Times and author of the book St. Marks is Dead: The Many Lives of America’s Hippest Street, will read with Tom Sleigh, whose books include Station Zed, Army Cats (winner of the John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters), and Space Walk, winner of the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Award.

On Friday, July 1, Pam Jenoff, a clinical professor at Rutgers Law School and the author of a series of internationally bestselling novels, including The Kommandant’s Girl, will read with J.T. Barbarese, an associate professor of English at Rutgers–Camden and a poet, translator, and fiction writer, who authored five books of poetry, including the recently published Sweet Spot.

On Tuesday, July 5, Chinelo Okparanta, a Rutgers University graduate and author of the novel Under the Trees and the story collection Happiness, Like Water, will read with Lisa Sewell, author of several books of poetry, including Impossible Object, winner of the 2014 Tenth Gate Prize from The Word Works.

The Rutgers University–Camden Summer Writers’ Conference is an intensive, inspiring, and informative 10-day conference of writing workshops, craft classes, agent and editor presentations, and readings by our nationally known faculty of poets and writers. The conference is open to the public, but prior workshop or professional writing experience is required.

The conference can be attended for graduate and undergraduate credit, as well as on a non-credit, certificate fee basis. The registration deadline is Monday, June 6. For more information or to register, visit mfa.camden.rutgers.edu/writers-conference or contact Lisa Zeidner at zeidner@camden.rutgers.edu or 856-225-6490.

The Stedman Gallery is located in the Fine Arts Complex on Third Street, between Cooper Street and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, on the Rutgers–Camden campus. For directions to Rutgers–Camden, visit camden.rutgers.edu/resources/getting-to-campus.

Accepting only 15 students per year, the competitive Rutgers–Camden MFA program in creative writing requires 42 credits of coursework and completion of a thesis for this terminal degree concentrating in fiction, poetry, and narrative nonfiction. More information about Rutgers–Camden’s MFA program in creative writing is available at mfa.camden.rutgers.edu.

Tom McLaughlin
Rutgers University–Camden
Editorial/Media Specialist
(856) 225-6545
thomas.mclaughlin@camden.rutgers.edu