This fall's UMN English Writers Series will bring in three poets, two short-story writers, and three nonfiction writers, including Edwidge Danticat, Yiyun Li, Lydia Davis, and Twin Cities writer Lesley Nneka Arimah. This is the largest lineup yet for the annual University of Minnesota reading series. All events are free and open to the public.
Here's the lineup, and it's stellar:
Thursday, Sept. 14, Lesley Nneka Arimah
7 pm, Weisman Art Museum, 333 East River Road, Mpls.
Arimah, who lives in the Twin Cities, is the author of the 2017 story collection "What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky" and winner of a 2017 O. Henry Prize for short story. In fall 2017, she will teach fiction writing in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Minnesota.
Tuesday, Sept. 26, Alan Shapiro
7 pm, Weisman Art Museum, 333 East River Road, Mpls.
Shapiro is the author of more than 13 volumes of poetry, including "Life Pig," "Reel to Reel," a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize, and" Night of the Republic." He has also published two memoirs and the 2012 novel Broadway Baby.
Friday, Oct. 6, Lydia Davis
6:30 pm, Cowles Auditorium, 301 19th Avenue S, Mpls.
Davis is the author of many collections of essays and short stories, including "Can't and Won't: Stories." She was a 2003 MacArthur Fellow and winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize. Davis is also well-known for her translations of French literature. Her appearance is co-sponsored by the American Literary Translators Association.
Wednesday, Oct. 25, Edwidge Danticat
7:30 pm, Coffman Union Theater, 300 Washington Avenue SE, Mpls.
A 2009 MacArthur Fellow, Danticat is the author of several novels, children's books, and memoirs, including "Brother I'm Dying," winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. Her new book,"The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story," is part of Charles Baxter's "The Art of" series at Graywolf Press.
Thursday, Nov. 2, Yiyun Li
7 pm, Coffman Union Theater, 300 Washington Avenue SE, Mpls.
Li is the author of the collection "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," which won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award. She's also published two novels, She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2010. Out this year is the memoir "Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life."
Thursday, Nov. 9, Afaa Michael Weaver & Marcus Wicker
7 pm, Walter Library, Upson Room, 117 Pleasant Street SE, Mpls.
Weaver's collection "City of Eternal Spring" won the 2015 Phillis Wheatley Book Award for Poetry. He also won the 2014 Kingsley Tufts Award. Wicker's new book, "Silencer," will be published in September. He has been a Pushcart Prize winner and NAACP Image Award finalist.
Tuesday, Nov. 14, Mary Ruefle
7 pm, McNamara Alumni Center, Heritage Gallery, 200 Oak Street SE, Mpls.
Ruefle is the author of the compendium of lectures "Madness, Rack, and Honey," "My Private Property," and several collections of poetry. She won the 1998 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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