via Salve Regina University

Four faculty authors in Salve Regina’s creative writing degree program, The Newport MFA, will present readings and “craft talks,” both of which are free and open to the public.

Each author will host a public reading from his or her work, followed by a book signing. And, for the first time, their craft talks – lectures on writing technique normally reserved for MFA students – will also be open to the public.

Reservations are strongly suggested at www.salve.edu/mfa-events.

Major Jackson

June 22

Jackson will host a craft talk on Saturday, June 22 at 2 p.m., and will present a reading later in the day at 7:30 p.m., both at the Young Building, corner of Ruggles and Bellevue avenues.

Jackson is the author of four books of poetry, including “Roll Deep,” “Holding Company,” “Hoops” and “Leaving Saturn,” which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems. A recipient of fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Jackson has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress. He is the Richard Dennis Green and Gold University Distinguished Professor at the University of Vermont, and serves as the Poetry Editor of The Harvard Review.

Didi Jackson

June 22

Jackson will present a public reading on Saturday, June 22 at 3:30 p.m. in the Young Building.

She is the author of the debut poetry collection, “Moon Jar.” Her poems appear in The New Yorker, New England Review, Ploughshares, Poem-a-Day, Iowa Review, The Slowdown and elsewhere. She currently lives in South Burlington, Vt. and teaches creative writing at the University of Vermont.

Garrard Conley

June 23 and 24

Conley will host a public reading in Ochre Court on Sunday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a craft talk on Monday, June 24 at 2 p.m. in the O’Hare Academic Building on Ochre Point Avenue.

Conley is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, “Boy Erased” (2016), which has been translated into over a dozen languages and is now a major motion picture. Conley is also a creator and producer of the podcast UnErased, which explores the history of conversion therapy in America through interviews, historical documents and archival materials. A survivor of conversion therapy, Conley is an activist and speaker, lecturing at schools and venues across the country on radical compassion, writing through trauma, and growing up gay in the complicated South. Conley is currently at work on a novel about queer 18th century lives, due out in 2020.

Jill Bialosky and Ann Hood

June 28

Bialosky and Hood will host a craft talk on Friday, June 28 at 3 p.m. and Bialosky will present a public reading later in the day at 7:30 p.m., both in Ochre Court, located on Ochre Point Avenue.

Bialosky is executive editor and vice president of W.W. Norton & Company, and is the editor for Hood’s books. The afternoon craft talk, “A Conversation Between Writer and Editor,” features Bialosky and Hood talking about that relationship and taking questions from the audience. In the evening, Bialosky will read from her work. She’s published four volumes of poetry: “The End of Desire,” “Subterranean,” a finalist for the James Laughlin Prize, “Intruder” and “The Players.” She has also written three novels, “House Under Snow,” “The Life Room,” and “The Prize.” She is the author of the New York Times bestselling and highly acclaimed memoir, “History of a Suicide.” Her newest memoir is “Poetry Will Save Your Life.” In 2014 she was honored by the Poetry Society of America for her distinguished contribution to poetry.

The Newport MFA in Creative Writing at Salve Regina University was founded by New York Times best-selling author Ann Hood. The Newport MFA is a low-residency program that is completed over two years; the 2019 summer residency runs June 21-30 on the Salve Regina campus. In the months between residencies, students practice the art and discipline of writing in individualized, long-distance study with a faculty mentor. More information about The Newport MFA is available on the Salve Regina website, salve.edu/grad.

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