Salar Abdoh reads from his novel Tehran at Twilight. Gina Nahai reads from her novel The Luminous Hearat of Jonah S. Yu Jin Ko, Professor of English at Wellesley, introduces the two writers. The discussion took place on April 4, 2015 as part of the Distinguished Writers Series at the Newhouse Center. Salar Abdoh was born in Iran, and splits his time between Tehran and New York City, where he is codirector of the Creative Writing MFA Program at the City College of New York. He is the author...

Ha Jin reads from his novel A Map of Betrayal, published in 2014. After his reading, Ha Jin discusses his work with Mingwei Song, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages & Cultures. This event took place March 30, 2015 at Wellesley's Newhouse Center for the Humanities as part of the Newhouse Center Distinguished Writers Series. Born in China in 1956, Pulitzer nominated author Ha Jin was a teenager when China entered the Cultural Revolution. He became a member of the People’s...

Benjamin Percy and Etgar Keret read from and discuss their work. They are introduced by Jonathan Wilson, Director of the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University. The event took place on November 11, 2014 Benjamin Percy is the author of a novel, The Wilding (Graywolf Press, 2010), winner of the Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction; and two books of stories, Refresh, Refresh (Graywolf, 2007) and The Language of Elk (Carnegie Mellon, 2006). His second novel, a psychological...

Nathalie Handal and Robin Robertson read their poems. They are introduced by Dan Chiasson, Associate Professor of English at Wellesley College. The event took place on October 27, 2014. Nathalie Handal was raised in Latin America, France and the Arab world. Her most recent books include the critically acclaimed Poet in Andalucía, which Alice Walker lauds as “poems of depth and weight and the sorrowing song of longing and resolve,” and Love and Strange Horses, winner of the 2011 Gold Medal...

Chris Abani' reads from his novel The Secret History of Las Vegas. Cristina García reads from her novel King of Cuba. The discussion took place on April 1, 2014, and was moderated by Elena Creef, Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Wellesley College. Cristina García is the author of six novels: King of Cuba, The Lady Matador’s Hotel, A Handbook to Luck, Monkey Hunting, The Agüero Sisters, winner of the Janet Heidiger Kafka Prize; and Dreaming in Cuban, finalist for the...

Claire Messud reads from her novel The Woman Upstairs, published in April 2013. After her reading, Claire discusses her work with Duncan White, Resident Fellow at Wellesley's Newhouse Center for the Humanities. Claire was born in the United States in 1966 to a French father and a Canadian mother, and was raised in Sydney, Australia and Toronto, Canada, before returning to the States in 1980. Educated at Yale and Cambridge universities, she lived in London until 1995, where she was Deputy...

Deni Béchard was born in British Columbia to Québécois and American parents and grew up in both Canada and the United States. He has also traveled in over fifty countries. His recently-published memoir, Cures for Hunger, describes growing up with his father who was a bank robber, and was both an IndieNext pick and Amazon Canada’s editor’s pick as one of the best memoir/biography of 2012. Empty Hands, Open Arms, a book about conservation in the Congo rainforest, was published in October 2013....

Film director Ang Lee and screenwriter James Schamus spoke at Wellesley College on Saturday, October 26. “Ang Lee is one of the most important figures in Chinese cinema—and probably the most famous figure from Chinese cinema in the entire world,” said Mingwei Song, assistant professor of Chinese at Wellesley. Song’s work specializes in modern Chinese literature, film studies, and youth culture. Lee has won the Academy Award for Best Direction for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi...

Siddhartha Deb reads from his latest book, The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India. He is introduced by Nikhil Rao, Associate Professor of History at Wellesley College. Siddhartha Deb was born in northeastern India in 1970. His first novel, The Point of Return, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His reviews and journalism have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Guardian, The Nation, the New Statesman, and the Times Literary Supplement. He came to New York on...

Maud Casey reads from her forthcoming novel, The Man Who Walked Away. Karen Russell reads her short story The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis. They are introduced by Duncan White, Newhouse Resident Fellow at Wellesley College. Maud Casey is the author of two novels, The Shape of Things to Come, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Genealogy, as well as a collection of stories, Drastic. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in The American Scholar, The New York...

Bill Tremblay is a poet, novelist, librettist, and reviewer. He directed the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Colorado State University, founded the Colorado Review and served as its chief editor for 15 years. His work has appeared in seven full-length volumes including Crying in the Cheap Seats [UMass Press], The Anarchist Heart [New Rivers Press: 1975]. Home Front [Lynx House Press: 1978]. Second Sun: New & Selected Poems [l”Eperiver Press: 1983]. Duhamel: Ideas of Order in Little...

Marjorie Agosin introduces poets Anis Mojgani and Marilyn Nelson. Anis Mojgani is a two time National Poetry Slam Champion and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam.   Anis has performed at numerous universities, festivals, and venues around the globe. He has performed for audiences as varied as the House of Blues and the United Nations, and his work has appeared on HBO, NPR, and in the pages of such journals asRattle, Used Furniture Review, Muzzle, and The Lumberyard. A founding...

Don Lee reads from his most recent novel, The Collective. Stephanie Reents reads her short story None of the Above. They are introduced by Adam Schwartz, Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program at Wellesley College. Lee's previous work includes Wrack and Ruin; Country of Origin; and the story collection Yellow. He is currently the director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at Temple University. Stephanie Reents is the author of The Kissing List.  She has been a Bread Loaf...

Junot Díaz, award-winning author (Drown, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) and 2012 MacArthur "genius", reads from his most recent collection of short stores, "This is How You Lose Her." Please be advised that Junot Díaz occasionally uses strong language in this recording.

Mat Johnson reads the first chapter of a work in progress, and Tracy Smith recites from her poetry collection Life on Mars. The writers discuss shared themes of racial identity and home. Introduction by Yu Jin Ko, Professor of English at Wellesley.

Author Geoff Dyer discusses his latest book, Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room, about Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker, which was published in the UK and the US in Spring 2012. Geoff Dyer is introduced by Newhouse Fellow Eugenie Brinkema, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Literature and Media at MIT.

Award-winning author Nathan Englander reads a selection from his short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank". Author Jimmy Wallenstein introduces and interviews Englander.

Distinguished Writers Series: Nikky Finney and Tom Sleigh Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 4:30PM Newhouse Center for the Humanities, Wellesley College Nikky Finney was born in South Carolina, within listening distance of the sea. A child of activists, she came of age during the civil rights and Black Arts Movements. At Talladega College, nurtured by Hale Woodruff's Amistad murals, Finney began to understand the powerful synergy between art and history. Finney has authored four books of poetry: Head...

Margot Livesey, the Guggenheim-winning author of The House on Fortune Street and The Flight of Gemma Hardy, discusses her friendship with Andrea Barrett, whose works include the Pulitzer Prize finalist Servants of the Map and the National Book Award winning Ship Fever. Livesey reads from their recent works and recounts how their literary friendship of over twenty years has shaped each of their work. February 2012.

Leah Hager Cohen, the author of four novels including The Grief of Others and four works of narrative nonfiction including Train Go Sorry, is the Chair in Contemporary American Letters at the College of the Holy Cross and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. Jim Shepard is the author of six novels, including Project X, and four story collections, including the National Book Award finalist Like You’d Understand, Anyway and You Think That’s Bad, released April 2011....

Pico Iyer reads from The Man Within My Head, his latest book, in which he examines his connection to Graham Greene. Following the reading, Ato Quayson, a Newhouse Center fellow and the Director of the Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University of Toronto, leads a discussion about Iyer's work.

The New Yorker editor Deborah Treisman and writers Aleksandar Hemon and Hilton Als join forces for a conversation about the art of writing and the editorial process. Treisman, The New Yorker's youngest fiction editor ever, has also worked for The New York Review of Books and Harper's. Hemon is author of The Lazarus Project, which was a National Book Award and National Critics Circle Award finalist. Als, who is currently serving as Newhouse Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Wellesley...

The writers Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts and Sarah Broom discussed their interest in two communities that are closely identified with people of color, Harlem and New Orleans, in an event moderated by Noah Chasin, asst. professor of art history at Bard. In this excerpt from the event, Broom reads from her short piece "Letting Her Go" about the decision to move from New Orleans, while Rhodes-Pitts reads from her book Harlem Is Nowhere (2011), part of a trilogy on African-Americans and utopia.

Francisco Goldman is the author of three novels, including the Kaufman Prize for First Fiction winner The Long Night of White Chickens, as well as many works of criticism and investigative journalism. Goldman reads from his latest book, Say Her Name, written about his marriage to writer Aura Estrada and the unexpected tragedy of her death in 2007. Award-winning author Junot Díaz introduces Goldman and leads a discussion following the reading. The reading took place at Wellesley College in...