CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Food writer and commentator John T. Edge will dish out a heaping helping of his work on Sept. 16 as the lead author in the Fall 2009 Carr Reading Series at the University of Illinois.
The series, sponsored by the Creative Writing Program at Illinois, takes place in the Authors Corner of the Illini Union Bookstore Building, 809 S. Wright St., Champaign. All series events begin at 4:30 p.m. at the same location and are free and open to the public.
Edge, who directs the Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, is the author of several books. They include “Fried Chicken: An American Story,” “Apple Pie: An American Story,” and “Donuts: An American Passion” (all published by Putnam Adult).
He is contributing editor of Gourmet magazine and a regular contributor to the weekend edition of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” program. His work also has been featured in the 2001-2004 editions of the Best Food Writing Anthology.
Other dates and participants in the series:
• Sept. 29, award-winning poet Lucie Brock-Broido, a professor of poetry at Columbia University and author of three collections: “A Hunger,” “The Master Letters,” and “Trouble in Mind” (all published by Alfred A. Knopf). Brock-Broido’s awards and honors include the Witter-Bynner Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Arts and Letters, and the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize from American Poetry Review.
She also is the winner of two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and a Guggenheim fellowship.
• Oct. 5, Stacey Levine, the author of the new short-story collection “The Girl With Brown Fur” (MacAdam Cage) and “My Horse and Other Stories” (Sun & Moon Press), which won the PEN/West Fiction Award in 1994. She also is the author of two novels: “Dra -” (Sun & Moon Press) and “Frances Johnson” (Clear Cut Press); the latter was a finalist for a Washington State Book Award in 2005. Levine’s writing also has appeared in a number of publications ranging from Denver Quarterly, Fence and Tin House to the Washington Review, American Book Review and Chicago Reader.
• Oct. 7, television writer-producer Bernard Lechowick. The Emmy Award-winning creator of five prime-time series – including “Homefront for ABC, “Wild Card” for Lifetime, and “Live Through This,” MTV’s first scripted drama – was a writer-producer for six seasons on the long-running prime-time soap opera “Knots Landing.” Lechowick, who has won the Writers Guild Award (twice), People’s Choice Award and Viewers for Quality Television Founder’s Award, also is an adjunct faculty member in the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
• Oct. 14, Michael Czyzniejewski and Matthew Gavin Frank, two writers whose voices were influenced by their Illinois roots.
Czyzniejewski grew up in Chicago and the south suburbs and earned his bachelor’s degree from Illinois. He earned a master’s degree at Bowling Green State University, where he now teaches and is editor-in-chief of Mid-American Review. His stories have appeared in dozens of publications, from StoryQuarterly to American Short Fiction, as well as in anthologies. His debut story collection, “Elephants in Our Bedroom” (Dzanc Books) was published earlier this year.
Frank, who was born and raised in Illinois, teaches English and Creative Writing at Grand Valley State University and is author of the forthcoming book “Barolo” (The University of Nebraska Press), and “Sagittarius Agitprop (Black Lawrence Press).
Frank’s work also appears in two chapbooks: “Four Hours to Mpumalanga” (Pudding House Publications) and “Aardvark” (West Town Press). His writing has been published in The New Republic, Crazyhorse, Indiana Review, The Best Travel Writing 2008 and Gastronomica.
The Carr Reading Series is funded by a gift from Robert J. and Katherin Carr. More information about the series is available online at http://creativewriting.english.illinois.edu/carr.
