Renowned Bennington College Graduate Writing Faculty Offer Summer Reading Series

Bennington College’s Graduate Writing program welcomes the public to its summer reading series, which is free and open to the public. All readings will take place at 7:00 pm in the College’s Deane Carriage Barn, Thursday, June 15 through Thursday, June 22, 2006.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Sven Birkerts’ books of nonfiction include a memoir, My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time, The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, An Artificial Wilderness: Essays on Twentieth Century Literature, The Electric Life: Essays on Modern Poetry, and American Energies: Essays on Fiction. He edited Tolstoy's Dictaphone and several editions of Writing Well (with Donald Hall).

Martha Cooley’s newest novel is Thirty-Three Swoons, which was recently published in paperback. Her first novel, The Archivist, has appeared in translation in ten languages.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Linda Gregg’s books of poems are In the Middle Distance, Things and Flesh, Chosen by the Lion, The Sacraments of Desire, Alma, and Too Bright to See.

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel is Amy Hempel’s newest book. She has published four collections of stories: The Dog of Marriage, Tumble Home, At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, and Reasons to Live. Her stories have been published in twelve languages. Her anthology of poems in the voices of dogs, Unleashed: Poems by Writers' Dogs, was published by Crown.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Lyndall Gordon’s biographies include T.S. Eliot: An Imperfect Life. Vindication: The Life of Mary Wollstonecraft; Virginia Woolf: A Writer’s Life; Shared Lives, a memoir; Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life; and A Private Life of Henry James: Two Women and His Art.

Olivia Gordon is the author of the memoir about the drug ecstasy, The Agony of Ecstasy.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Betsy Cox has published three novels: Night Talk, The Ragged Way People Fall Out of Love, and Familiar Ground, and a book of short stories, Bargains in the Real World. Cox received the Lillian Smith Award for work that encourages civil rights and promotes harmony between the races.

Donald Hall has published sixteen books of poetry, recently White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems, 1946-2006, The Painted Bed, and Without: Poems. His newest nonfiction book, The Best Day the Worst Day, is a memoir about Jane Kenyon.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Barry Hannah’s books of fiction include Yonder Stands Your Orphan, Never Die, Boomerang, Hey Jack!, Captain Maximus, The Tennis Handsome, Ray, Nightwatchmen, and Geronimo Rex, which received the William Faulkner Prize and a nomination for the National Book Award. His short story collections are High Lonesome, Bats Out of Hell, and Airships.

Major Jackson’s books of poems are Hoops and Leaving Saturn. Leaving Saturn was awarded the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Ed Ochester’s books of poetry are The Land of Cockaigne, Snow White Horses: Selected Poems 1973-1988, Cooking in Key West, Changing the Name to Ochester, Miracle Mile, and Dancing on the Edges of Knives. With Judith Vollmer, he edits the poetry magazine, 5 AM.

Bob Shacochis’s collection of stories, Easy in the Islands, received the 1985 National Book Award for First Fiction, and his novel, Swimming in the Volcano, was a finalist for the 1993 National Book Award. He is also the author of a second collection of stories, The Next New World and he has published two nonfiction books: The Immaculate Invasion, and Domesticity.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Amy Gerstler’s books poems are Ghost Girl, Medicine, Crown of Weeds, Nerve Storm, Bitter Angel, The True Bride, Early Heaven, White Marriage/Recovery, Christy’s Alpine Inn, and Yonder. Bitter Angel was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1991, and Crown of Weeds received the California Book Award in 1998.

Phillip Lopate’s books of nonfiction include Waterfront: A Journey Around Manhattan, Getting Personal: Selected Writings, Totally, Tenderly, Tragically, Portrait of My Body, Against Joie de Vivre, Bachelorhood: Tales of the Metropolis, and Being with Children. Most recently Mr. Lopate edited American Movie Critics: From the Silents Until Now.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Virgil Suarez’s fiction includes Latin Jazz, The Cutter, Going, Havana Thursdays, Welcome to the Oasis and Other Stories, and Infinite Refuge, a book of short stories and essays. His most recent publication is 90 Miles: Selected and New Poems and his other books of poems include Guide to the Blue Tongue, Palm Crows, Banyan, In the Republic of Longing, Garabato Poems, and You Come Singing.

Dan Wakefield’s newest book of nonfiction is The Hijacking of Jesus: How the Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice and Hate. His earlier books of nonfiction include New York in the Fifties, How Do We Know When It’s God?, Supernation at Peace and War, Returning: A Spiritual Journey. His novels include Selling Out, Under the Apple Tree, Starting Over, and Going All the Way.

For more information, please call 802-440-4452.