Abstract: Trinity’s Allan K. Smith Visiting Writers Series annually hosts between 8 and 10 readings by nationally and internationally acclaimed poets and prose writers. Each reading is followed by a short question and answer session, a book signing, and a reception.

Abstract: Emmanuel Dongala was born in Congo (Brazzaville) and educated there as well as in the US where he earned degrees in Chemistry from Oberlin College and Rutgers University. He holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from France. Dongala, who writes in French, has won numerous literary prizes in the US and France, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grand Prix de Littérature de l’Afrique Noire, the Prix de la Fondation de France, and the Prix Radio France Internationale. Regarded as one of the most engaging African novelists, Dongala is the author of four critically acclaimed novels, a collection of short stories and a play – translated in English and more than a dozen languages. In 1998, a bitter civil war in the Congo forced Dongala, who was a professor of Chemistry and dean, to flee his country with help from long-term friend, the writer Philip Roth. Dongala holds the Richard B. Fisher Chair in Natural Sciences at Bard College at Simon’s Rock where he also leads a seminar in Francophone African literature. His latest novel, Johnny Mad Dog, was recently made into a film.

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 4:30PM   Reese Room, Smith House

Abstract: Kevin Young is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Dear Darkness (Knopf, 2008), winner of the Southern Independent Bookseller`s Award, and Jelly Roll: A Blues (2003), a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize. He is the editor of four other volumes, including Everyman Pocket Poets’ Blues Poems and Jazz Poems and the Library of America’s John Berryman: Selected Poems; his anthology The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing is forthcoming next year. Young is Atticus Haygood Professor of Creative Writing and English and curator of Literary Collections and the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University.

Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 4:30PM   Rittenberg Lounge, Mather Hall

Abstract: PLEASE JOIN US FOR A COMMUNITY WORKSHOP/DISCUSSION WITH OUR POET-IN-RESIDENCE, KEVIN YOUNG on Saturday, October 24, from 1:00-3:00 in the Reese Room at the Smith House at Trinity College This invitation is open to all **RSVP via email (pamela.nomura@trincoll.edu) or phone (860)680-5322

Saturday, October 24, 2009 - 1:00PM   Reese Room, Smith House

Abstract: Nancy Eimers is the author of three collections of poetry: A Grammar to Waking (Carnegie Mellon, 2006), No Moon, winner of the 1997 Verna Emery Prize (Purdue University Press), and Destroying Angel (Wesleyan/University Press of New England, 1991). She has been the recipient of a Nation “Discovery” Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships and a Whiting Writer’s Award. Her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines, including Best American Poetry 1996, Poets of the New Century, The New Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, The Extraordinary Tide: New Poetry By American Women, Paris Review, TriQuarterly, and Field. She teaches creative writing at Western Michigan University and at Vermont College, and she lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - 4:30PM   Reese Room, Smith House

Abstract: Nami Mun was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up there and in Bronx, New York. She has worked as an Avon Lady, a street vendor, a photojournalist, a waitress, an activities coordinator for a nursing home, and a criminal defense investigator. After earning a GED, she went on to get a BA in English from UC Berkeley, and an MFA from University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award for fiction. Her stories have been published in the 2007 Pushcart Prize Anthology, The Iowa Review, Evergreen Review, Witness, Tin House, and other journals. Miles from Nowhere, her debut novel, was short-listed for the Orange Award for New Writers, and selected for Indie Next; Amazon’s Best of the Month; and Amazon’s Best Novel of the Year (So Far). “Shelter,” the lead story for the book, was awarded a Pushcart Prize, and Mun, herself, was named by Chicago magazine as 2009s Best New Novelist. She currently lives and teaches creative writing in Chicago.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 - 4:30PM   Reese Room, Smith House

Abstract: Rivka Galchen received her MD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, having spent a year in South America working on public health issues. Her essays and stories have appeared in Harper`s, Zoetrope, The New Yorker, The Believer, Scientific American and The New York Times. Her first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances was published by FSG in June 2008.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009 - 4:30PM   Reese Room, Smith House