Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2006

Contact: Contact: Mike Emery
713.743.8186 (office)
713.415.6551 (pager)
pemery@uh.edu

HOUSTON, September 22, 2006 – Literary readings are designed to bring people closer to a work of fiction or poetry by allowing them to hear the words spoken directly from the author. Starting this fall, a new series will offer audiences an even more intimate experience with contemporary literature.

Sponsored by the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program (CWP) and Inprint Inc., the Inprint Studio Reading Series will offer public readings in modest, comfortable venues to further connect audiences with some of the country’s brightest writers and their works. All readings are free and open to the public.

“This is a great chance for Houstonians to hear CWP alumni, as well as a host of other up and coming authors,” said J. Kastely, director of CWP. “All of these authors were selected because of CWP faculty and student interest in their works. These are writers who are helping shape what will be read in our classrooms.”

Among the authors participating in the Inprint Studio Reading Series are CWP alumni such as fiction author Farnoosh Moshiri and essayist Emily Fox Gordon, as well as poets Bob Hicok and Laura Kasischke. All authors reading in the Inprint Studio series also are participating in residencies at UH.

2006 – 2007 INPRINT STUDIO READING SERIES

Bob Hicok: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 27 at DiverseWorks
Hicok’s poems have been published in magazines such as the New Yorker, Ploughshares and Poetry. His book “Animal Soul” was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Another book that he authored, “The Legend of Light,” received the 1995 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry and was an American Library Association’s Booklist Notable Book of the Year.

Farnoosh Moshiri: 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 19 at the UH Honors College
CWP alumnae and fiction writer Moshiri was born in Tehran, Iran. She fled the country in 1983 after artists, intellectuals and activists were arrested. She is a past recipient of the Barthelme Memorial Fellowship and has authored the novels “At the Wall of the Almighty,” “The Bathhouse” and “Against Gravity.”

Andrew Feld and Pimone Triplett: 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8 at UH’s Honors College
Feld’s work has appeared in publications such as the Paris Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review and the New England Review. He’s a past recipient of a Michener Foundation grant, a “Discovery”/The Nation Award. Feld has authored the book “Citizen.” Triplett has authored “The Price of Light” and “Running the Picture.” Her poetry has been published in The Paris Review and The New England Review.

Emily Fox Gordon: 6 p.m., Thursday, March 22 at UH’s Honors College
Gordon authored the acclaimed memoirs “Mockingbird Years: A Life In and Out of Therapy,” which was named a New York Times Notable Book and “Are You Happy: A Childhood Remembered.” Her essays have been published in Boulevard, Gettysburg Review, Southwest Review and Salmagundi. Fox also is a two-time recipient of the Pushcart Prize, which celebrates the excellence of the small presses.

Laura Kasischke: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5 at DiverseWorks
Kasischke’s poetry and prose have earned her acclaim and honors including the Pushcart Prize, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers, and the Alice Fay DiCastagnola Award. Her books include “Gardening in the Dark,” “Dance and Disappear” and “Boy Heaven.”

Since 1979, CWP has attracted the world’s top writers, who have studied and taught at UH. In addition to its director, the program’s current faculty members include award-winning authors, Robert Boswell, Chitra Divakaruni, Mark Doty, Nick Flynn, Tony Hoagland, Antonya Nelson, Robert Phillips, Daniel Stern and Adam Zagajewski. Hundreds of student applications are received by CWP, but only a select few are chosen to participate in its Ph.D. and Master of Fine Arts programs. CWP was ranked second in U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of college writing programs. For more information on CWP, visit www.class.uh.edu/cwp/.

Inprint, Inc. is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization reaching out to readers and writers in Houston. Founded in 1983 by a group of community volunteers and CWP writers, the mission of Inprint is to champion creative writing and reading in Houston. For more information, visit www.inprint-inc.org/.

About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.