Year: 2022

Event: Reading with Joy Harjo on November 10th, 7pm

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.

Event: Reading with Uwem Akpan on September 8th

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

MCW Graduation Readings in May!

The Michener Center is thrilled to celebrate our classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022 this May! Please join us for three public readings (5/7, 5/13, and 5/14) at the Harry Ransom Center (HRC). Details for each reading below.

 

 

Reading for the Class of 2022
May 7, 2022

Place: The Harry Ransom Center (HRC)
Time: Reception at 5pm, Reading at 6pm
Readings by: Chichi Abii, Emmie Atwood, Beverly Chukwu, Kendra Daniels, Rickey Fayne, Ryan Paradiso, Mary Lee, Alejandro Puyana, Jaymes Sanchez, Zack Schlosberg, Leela Srinivasan, & Molly Williams.

Reading for the Class of 2020
May 13, 2022
Place:
The Harry Ransom Center (HRC)
Time: Reception at 5pm, Reading at 6pm
Readings by: Desiree Evans, Shangyang Fang, Annelyse Gelman, Nathan Harris, Rachel Heng, Michael Herr, Paul Kruse, Cecelia Raker, Tracey Rose, Daniel Ruiz, Kim Tran, & Minghao Tu.

Reading for the Class of 2021
May 14, 2022
Place:
The Harry Ransom Center (HRC)
Time: Reception at 5pm, Reading at 6pm
Readings by: Amanda Bestor-Siegal, Maryan Captan, Hedgie Choi, Willie Fitzgerald, Lauren Green, David Grivette, Jackson Holbert, Gursimrat Kaur, Bismarck Martinez, Sam Mayer, Soeun Seo, & Avigayl Sharp.