Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She was appointed the 23rd United States Poet Laureate in 2019—first Native American to hold the position and only the second person to serve three terms in the role.

Harjo’s nine books of poetry include An American Sunrise, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, and She Had Some Horses. She is also the author of two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, which invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her “poet-warrior” road. Her many writing awards include the 2019 Jackson Prize from the Poets & Writers, the Ruth Lilly Prize from the Poetry Foundation, the 2015 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Board of Directors Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and is artist-in-residence for the Bob Dylan Center. A renowned musician, Harjo performs with her saxophone nationally and internationally; her most recent album is I Pray For My Enemies.

For event information click here.

Roger Reeves’  book Best Barbarian is a finalist for the National Book Award!

Nigerian writer Uwem Akpan (New York, My Village and Say You’re One of Them) will read from his latest work in this talk co-sponsored by the Michener Center for Writers and the Harry Ransom Center. Akpan’s fiction and autobiographical pieces have appeared in The New Yorker and The Guardian, and O, The Oprah Magazine, among others. His collection, Say You’re One of Them, was published by Little, Brown in 2008 and has been translated into twelve languages. It won the Commonwealth Prize (Africa Region), the Open Book Prize, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and was the 2009 Oprah Book Club selection.

Akpan, who teaches in the University of Florida’s MFA program, was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. His first book, Say You’re One of Them made the “Best of the Year” on a number of lists, including those in People magazine and The Wall Street Journal. In his second book and first novel, New York, My Village, Akpan writes with the same promise and pain about New York City as he did about African cities in Say You’re One of Them.

New York, My Village will be available to purchase and a book signing will follow the reading.

Seating is limited, please RSVP. This program is in-person only and will not be available online.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uwem-akpan-author-reading-and-book-signing-tickets-412190963267

Michener poetry alum Chessy Normile (MFA ’19) was named 2022-2023 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Congratulations, Chessy!

MCW playwriting alum Minghao Tu (MFA ’20) will join Rattlestick Theater as a Van Lier New Voices Fellow. Minghao was also named a Playwrights’ Center’s 2022-2023 Jerome Fellow. Congratulations, Minghao!

Michener fiction alum Rachel Heng (MFA ’20) was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Creative Writing. Congratulations, Rachel! Read more about Rachel and the NEA here.

Nathan Harris’ debut novel The Sweetness of Water is the latest pick for Oprah’s Book Club. Watch Nathan’s appearance alongside Oprah Winfrey on CBS This Morning.

Michener Fellow Beverly Chukwu’s screenplay, “Prince of Lavendale Street,” was named Feature Winner in the 2021 BlueCat Screenplay Competition! Winners receive a cash prize and have their scripts forwarded to managers, agents, and other industry members. Congratulations, Bev!

MCW visiting faculty Mitchell Jackson was awarded a Pulitzer in Feature Writing for “Twelve Minutes and a Life,” a long-form piece published in Runner’s World. In Fall 2021, Mitchell Jackson will teach a graduate workshop in Nonfiction at the Michener Center.

A production of MCW Alum Reina Hardy’s play, Glass Heart, is at The Know Theatre in Cincinnati through December 12th. More details here.