2013 MFA Residency Series Flyer

Lamar Herrin – MFA Residency Profile

Lamar Herrin. Photo courtesy of Lamar Herrin

Lamar Herrin is an award winning author of numerous novels and his short stories have appeared in various publications including The New Yorker, Harper’s,  and Epoch. His latest work is a memoir entitled, Romancing Spain. In 1985, he received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and, in 1991, he won of the Associated Writing Program’s Award for the Novel for The Lies Boys Tell. He is Professor Emeritus of creative writing and contemporary literature at Cornell University where he has taught for twenty-nine years. He and his wife, Amparo, divide their time between Ithaca, New York and Valencia, Spain. Find out more at his website.

He will be reading from his work on Tuesday, February 12, 2013 in the John Galsworthy Building Room 3003 from 7:30-9 pm. The reading will begin promptly at 7:30pm.

Bibliography

Fiction

American Baroque (1981)

The Rio Loja Ringmaster (1983)

The Unwritten Chronicles of Robert E. Lee (1991)

The Lies Boys Tell (1992)

House of the Deaf  (2006)

Fractures (To be published in 2013)                                            

 

Nonfiction

Romancing Spain, A Memoir (2006)

 

STORIES

“The Rio Loja Ringmaster” –  The Paris Review, Fall 1974

“The Rookie Season” – The Paris Review, Summer, 1976

“Our Lady of the Mediterranean” – The Bennington Review, September, 1979

“Age of Retirement” – Epoch, Winter 1979

“For Years Without War” – fiction international, No. 12, 1980

“Her Journey Westward” – The Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 1981

“From Pure Products” – River Styx, #10, 1982

“A Life of Crime” – The Paris Review, Winter 1982

“Last Respects” – Harper’s Magazine, February 1983

“Monuments” – The New Yorker, October 29, 1990

“A Sweet and Sunny Life” – Columbia Review, 1993

“Casualties” – Epoch, 1998, vol. 47, nos. 2 & 3

“Song and Dance”  – Epoch, 2005, vol. 54, no 3

Source: http://www.lamarherrin.com/

“Everytime I read them, I want to write.”

The books and authors that inspire Lamar Herrin:

As I Lay Dying or anything else by William Faulkner

Thomas Wolfe – (not Tom Wolfe) author of num

erous works including Look Homeward, Angel, The Lost Boy and Mannerhouse: A Play in a Prologue and Four Acts

James Salter – author of novels, short stories, screenplays, poetry, memoir and other nonfiction. Works include Downhill Racer (screenplay), Light Years (novel) and Still Such (poetry).

Cormac McCarthy – author of short stories, screenplays and novels such as No Country for Old Men, All the Pretty Horses, The Road and The Orchard Keeper.

What is the MFA Residency Series?

As we begin our new semester there are some exciting events coming up for second year MFA students and the wider community through the MFA Residency Series. But what is this series and how can you get involved?

The MFA Residency Series is a knowledge and teaching exchange set up by our course leader, Dr. Scott Bradfield, to enhance the writing and teaching education for MFAs. As many of you will already know, the MFA in Creative Writing is considered a “terminal degree”, which means that it is a qualification for teaching at the university level. In the second semester of course’s the second year students take a module called “Teaching and Writing Workshop.” In this class we have a weekly workshop, run by a variety of instructors who also speak about their teaching experience and strategies. It is designed to give students hands-on experience with different workshopping styles and methods that they can then implement in their own teaching.

The MFA Residents are select, outstanding writers who also have extensive teaching experience. They hail from various countries and often fly in specifically to be a part of this series. In addition to running a workshop, these writers and teachers also do private tutorials with all second year MFA students.

But what does this mean for you if you’re not a second year MFA? Good news: they also do readings that are open to the public. We encourage everyone to come meet these leading writers and hear them read from their work.

In the past, Dr. Bradfield has brought in writers including Fiona Sampson, former editor of Poetry Review, J. Robert Lennon, head of the MFA at Cornell University, and Brian Evenson, head of Brown University’s MFA program. And this year’s list is no less impressive with the following authors participating:

* Lamar Herrin, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University’s MFA program and author of novels, short stories, poetry and, most recently, a memoir entitled Romancing Spain.

* Wendy Cope OBE, Writer in Residence at Kingston University and poet renowned for her wit. Recent collections include Family Values and Two Cures for Love.

* Paul Maliszewski, editor and author of criticism, short stories, essays and poetry including the short story collection, Prayer and Parable, and the essay collection, Fakers: Hoaxers, Con Artists, Counterfeiters, and Other Great Pretenders. It is our great pleasure to welcome Paul back for the second time as an MFA Resident.

* Christopher Priest, prolific author of everything from children’s non-fiction to novels and biographies. The film adaptation of his 1995 novel, The Prestige, was directed by Christopher Nolan and received two Academy Award nominations.

The dates for the public readings are as follows:

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 – Lamar Herrin at 7:30pm at Penrhyn Road Campus in John Galsworthy room 3003

Tuesday, 16 April 2013 – Paul Maliszewski at 7:30pm

Tuesday, 23 April 2013 – Christopher Priest at 7:30pm

Locations along with author information will be posted on this site before each reading. We hope to have the profile of Lamar Herrin up very shortly so check back with us or follow this blog for updates via email (see box in at the top of the column on the right-hand-side of this page). Please come to the readings and enjoy the work of these fine writers from both sides of the Atlantic.