CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Writers, both nationally acclaimed and aspiring, are giving a series of free public readings at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this fall, all organized by the English department's MFA Creative Writing Program.
Alice Fulton, whose poetry has been described as "simply eloquent" (Los Angeles Times), and "electrifying" (The New Yorker), will read from her work beginning at 5 p.m., Oct. 11, in the Illini Union Bookstore, 809 S. Wright St., Champaign.
Fulton is author of eight books, most recently "Cascade Experiment: Selected Poems," which includes selections from each of her books, including "Felt." "Felt" was awarded the 2002 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress.
A professor of English at Cornell University, Fulton is the second speaker for the Carr Visiting Authors Series, sponsored by the MFA program and the Center for Advanced Study. Allison Funk, an acclaimed poet, spoke on Sept. 12.
Still to come in the fall Carr Series, all of them speaking at 4:30 p.m. in the IUB, are Kelly Link, fiction writer, Oct. 17, and Edward Falco, fiction writer, Nov. 3.
MFA students also are doing readings this semester. Andrew Ervin and Amy Sayre-Roberts will read at 4 p.m. Sept. 22 at the IUB.
"Voice," the student reading series, is held at 7:45 p.m. at The Bread Company, 706 S. Goodwin, Urbana, the second Thursday of each month during the fall and spring semesters.
Issue 4 of "Ninth Letter" will be published in December. The innovative literary magazine began in 2003 as an outgrowth of the collaboration between Illinois' creative writing program and the School of Art and Design.
The MFA program began in fall 2002.