Two recently announced Housatonic Book Awards winners will be among the notable writers who will read from their work during the Western Connecticut State University Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing summer residency in August 2015.
The schedule of free public readings is as follows:
Sunday, Aug. 2: Recent graduate Cara Petitti and M.F.A. mentor Dan Pope, author of the novel “House-Breaking” (Simon & Schuster), will read at 7 p.m. in Room 218 of the Classroom Building on the WCSU Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury.
Monday, Aug. 3: Mardi Jo Link, winner of the 2014 Housatonic Book Award for her work of Creative Nonfiction, “Bootstrapper” (Vintage), will read at 7 p.m. in Room 218 of the Classroom Building on the WCSU Westside campus.
Tuesday, Aug. 4: M.F.A. program graduate Jeannette Ronson, author of “Cinderella Borscht Belt” (Kellan Publishing), and mentor John Roche, author of the novel “Bronx Bound” (Black Opal Books), will read at 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall on the WCSU Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury.
Wednesday, Aug. 5: A.B Westrick, winner of the 2014 Housatonic Book Award in Writing for Young Adults and Middle Grades for her novel, “Brotherhood” (Puffin Books), will read at 7 p.m. in Room 218 of the Classroom Building on the WCSU Westside campus.
The readings offer the Danbury community an opportunity to hear fiction, nonfiction, screenplay and poetry readings by nationally renowned authors, many of whom serve as writers in residence or writing mentors of the university’s M.F.A. in Creative and Professional Writing program.
Launched in 2005, the program enables participants from across the nation to continue working while pursuing M.F.A. studies in a diverse range of creative and nonfiction writing genres through distance learning. In the program’s first 10 years, M.F.A. students and graduates have published more than 40 books and dozens of stories, articles and poems.
For more information, visit the M.F.A. program website at www.wcsu.edu/writing/mfa or call the M.F.A. office at (203) 837-8878.