Lisa Cohen, Deb Olin Unferth, and Elizabeth Willis
Wesleyan Creative Writing Faculty Reading from their Work
Wednesday, September 23 Russell House Prose/Poetry 8 p.m.
LISA COHEN’s biography of three neglected twentieth century figures — the eccentric scholar Esther Murphy, the fan and collector Mercedes de Acosta, and the fashion writer and icon Madge Garland — will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Her essays have appeared in journals including Ploughshares, Fashion Theory, Bookforum, The Village Voice, GLQ, and The Boston Review.
DEB OLIN UNFERTH is the author of a collection of stories, Minor Robberies, and a novel, Vacation, both published by McSweeney’s. Her work has appeared in Harper‘s, 3rd Bed, Fence, and other publications. She has received a Pushcart Prize, a Creative Capital Grant from the Warhol Foundation, and in 2009 the Cabell First Novelist Award. She joins Wesleyan’s English department this year.
ELIZABETH WILLIS is the Shapiro-Silverberg Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Wesleyan. She is the author of four books of poetry: Second Law, The Human Abstract, Turneresque, and Meteoric Flowers. Her work has been selected for the National Poetry Series. Awards for her poetry include the Boston Review Prize and fellowships from the Howard Foundation, the Walter N. Thayer Foundation for the Arts, and the California Arts Council.
A reception will follow. Sponsored by the English Department, the Shapiro Creative Writing Center, and the Wesleyan Writing Programs.