ShelfLife@Texas

Roger Reeves, left, and Malachi Black, Lilly Fellows

For the second year running, a student in the Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing program of the Michener Center for Writers has received a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, among the most distinguished awards for aspiring poets who have yet to publish a book.  The fellowships are given by the Poetry Foundation, one of the largest literary foundations in the world and publisher of Poetry magazine.

Roger Reeves was one of the five Lilly fellows chosen in
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C.D. Wright is a poet who defies labels. Over a distinguished career and  twelve published volumes of poetry, prose, and a slippery mix of the two, she has continually reinvented herself.

Variously described as narrative, experimental, Southern, deeply personal, and fiercely political, Wright credits her roots in the Arkansas Ozarks for her resistance to joining a single, identifying “ism” of the poetry world—she was born to a stubborn independence.  And the breadth of her range is as great as the remove between
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Author photo by E. McCourt

James Hannahan, a 2006 alumnus of The University of Texas at Austin’s Michener Center for Writers’ MFA program, will read at BookPeople  from his debut novel “God Says No,” which was published this summer by McSweeney’s Books. The reading will begin at 7 p.m., September 16.

Hannaham completed his bachlor’s degree at Yale University and was a culture reporter for the Village Voice and other New York publications before joining the MFA program. Since graduation, he’s been a staff writer for
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Belinda Acosta, alumna of The University of Texas at Austin’s Michener Center for Writers and longtime columnist for the Austin Chronicle, debuts as a published novelist this month with the release of “Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz,” the first of two books she has written for Grand Central Publishing’s “A Quinceañera Club,” a new series which will explore Mexican American life and culture.

What is a quinceañera?  In the Hispanic culture, it’s a girl’s 15th birthday party, a coming-of-age celebration much like a sweet sixteen, but with
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Even before its official release on August 10th, Oscar Casares’ novel, “Amigoland,” is following in the footsteps of his acclaimed 2003 debut, “Brownsville.” Both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly gave the novel starred reviews, and USA Today and Time Out New York included it on their recommended summer reading lists even before it was in print. Harper’s and The Wall Street Journal, among others, have upcoming reviews and Texas Monthly has excerpted the novel in its August issue.  A state-wide tour is scheduled in bookstores, on campuses, and at literary festivals throughout the
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Legendary poet W.S. Merwin will read as part of the Michener Center for Writers’ literary series at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at the Avaya Auditorium, ACES 2.302, on the corner of 24th and Speedway on campus.

In a career spanning five decades, William S. Merwin has published more than fifty books of poetry, translations and prose. Beginning with the Yale Younger Poets award in 1952 for his first collection “A Mask for Janus,” his work has received the highest accolades
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Susan Somers-Willett (M.A. English, ‘98; Ph.D. English, ‘03) will read as part of the Michener Center for Writers’ spring series at 7:30 p.m., April 2, in the Avaya Auditorium (ACES 2.302).

Somers-Willett has earned praise not only for her poetry collections, “Roam” (2006) and “Quiver” (2009), but also as a scholar of the slam poetry phenomenon.

A veteran spoken word performer, she is the author of “The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and the Performance of Popular Verse in
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Three Michener Center alumni—whose ties date back to birth and their undergraduate days— have debut poetry collections out and will read from their work at BookPeople at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 25. The poets are: Matthew and Michael Dickman, and Michael McGriff.

Twin poets Matthew and Michael Dickman beat long odds to both earn admission to the Michener Center’s graduate program in 2002, and they have gone on to curiously parallel successes.

Both landed first book deals at Copper Canyon Press. Matthew’s “All
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Ian McEwan, Booker Prize-winning author of “Amsterdam,” “Atonement,” “Saturday” and, most recently, “On Chesil Beach,” will read as part of the UT Michener Center for Writers‘ literary series at 7:30 pm on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at the Blanton Museum of Art/Edgar A. Smith Building Auditorium, Martin Luther King Boulevard at Congress Avenue.

The literary world has bestowed its highest honors on McEwan’s 10 novels and two short fiction collections: the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel Award, The Prix
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