• Thursday, February 10th at 8:00 P.M. (Reading)

Paul Harding will read from recent work.   Harding is an American musician & author, best known for his debut novel Tinkers—which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction & the 2010 PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers.  Harding was drummer for the band Cold Water Flat from approximately the founding in 1990 to 1997.   He has a B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst & an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop & has taught writing at Harvard University & the University of Iowa.   Sponsored by Amherst College’s Creative Writing Center.

• Friday, February 11th at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)

“Live Lit”   Students in the M.F.A. Program at the University of Massachusetts will read from their recent work.   Evenings usually include a mix of poetry & fiction.

• Thursday, February 17th at 8:00 P.M. (Poetry reading)

Matthew Rohrer & Anthony McCann will read at Memorial Hall, University of Massachusetts. Rohrer’s first book of poetry, A Hummock in the Malookas, was selected by Mary Oliver for the 1994 National Poetry Series.   James Tate said of his collection A Green Light, “There are poems in [it] that can break your heart with their unexpected twists & turns. You think you know where you are & then you don’t & it is inexplicably sad. You experience some kind of emotion that you can’t even name, but it’s deep & real. That’s the power of Matthew Rohrer’s new poems.” Rorher has several other volumes to his name, including Rise Up, A Plate of Chicken, & the forthcoming Destroyer & Preserver.   McCann is the author of the forthcoming I Heart Your Fate, Moongarden, & Father of Noise . In addition to these two collections, he is one of the authors of Gentle Reader!, a book of erasures of the English Romantics, along with Joshua Beckman & Matthew Rohrer.   Sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Visiting Writers Series.

• Friday, February 18th at 8:00 P.M. (Poetry reading)

Gary Metras & Kyle Flak will read from recent volumes of poetry.   Metras is the author of fifteen poetry collections, most recently Two Bloods.   His poems, essays & reviews have appeared in such journals as The Bellingham Review, The Boston Review of Books, & Poetry.   He is the editor & printer of Adastra Press.   Flak, who is in the University of Massachusetts' M.F.A. program, has had poetry published in Poetry East & Mudfish, among other journals. The Secret Admirer is his first volume of poetry.

• Wednesday, February 23rd at 8:00 P.M. (Poetry reading)

Brad Crenshaw will read from his recent collection of poetry, My Gargantuan Desire.   Crenshaw, who lives in Amherst, received both his MFA & PhD in English from the University of California, Irvine.   He later obtained a second PhD in clinical psychology & neuroscience from the University of Massachusetts, where he teaches neuropsychology in the graduate psychology program.   For many years he worked as a neuropsychologist in a New England medical center.   His poems & critical articles have appeared in various magazines, including Chicago Review, Parnassus, Massachusetts Review, Shenandoah, & others.

• Thursday, February 24th at 8:00 P.M. (Reading)

Aimee Bender will read at Memorial Hall, University of Massachusetts.   Bender is the author of four books: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, which was a NY Times Notable Book; An Invisible Sign of My Own, which was an L.A. Times pick of the year; Willful Creatures, which was nominated by The Believer as one of the best books of the year; & most recently, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, which, so far, has won the SCIBA award for best fiction.   She has received two Pushcart prizes; was nominated for the Tip Tree award in 2005 & the Shirley Jackson short story award in 2010.   Sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Visiting Writers Series.

• Friday, February 5th at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)

“Live Lit”   Students in the M.F.A. Program at the University of Massachusetts will read from their recent work.   Evenings usually include a mix of poetry & fiction.