The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series of Hope College will feature both fiction and poetry as it welcomes David Harris Ebenbach and Vievee Francis on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
David Harris Ebenbach won the coveted Drue Heinz Literature Prize in 2005 and the Great Lakes Colleges Association's New Writer Award for his collection of short stories, "Between Camelots." Stewart O'Nan has praised Ebenbach's work by stating, "These stories of searching young Americans are intimate and sharply detailed, sometimes hopeful, often sad, with just a taste of the strange." Ebenbach now lives in New Jersey, but many of his stories are set in Philadelphia, the city where he was born and raised.
Poet Vievee Francis's first book, "Blue-Tail Fly" is a collection that gives voice to "outsiders" - from soldiers and common folk to leading political figures - in the period of American history between the Mexican American War and the Civil War, and was recently published by Wayne State University Press as part of the Made in Michigan Writers Series. Thomas Lynch has called Francis "[a] reliable witness to history and the moment" and "the real thing: a poet with something to say and something worth listening to." Vievee Francis has had work published in the 2003 Grolier Prize Annual, Callaloo, Margie, and Crab Orchard Review among others.
In addition to the 7 p.m. reading, both writers will be involved in a question and answer session held at 3 p.m. in room 239 of the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication. The public is invited to the free event.
The Hope College Jazz Ensemble will precede the reading at the Knickerbocker with a 6:30 p.m. performance.
Additional information may be obtained online by visiting www.hope.edu/vws.
The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 East 8th Street. The Martha Miller Center is located on the corner of Columbia Avenue and 10th Street.