Friday the 13th will be a lucky date for Houston’s literary lovers. The Gulf Coast Reading Series kicks off its 2013 – 2014 season at 7 p.m., Sept. 13. Featured readers are University of Houston Creative Writing students Katie Condon, Will Wilkinson and J.S.A. Lowe. This free event returns to Rudyard’s British Pub (2010 Waugh Dr.).
Condon is a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) candidate in UH’s Creative Writing Program (CWP). Her poetry has appeared in publications such as Heavy Feather Review, LEVELER and Two Serious Ladies. A sample of her Gulf Coast poetry can be read here.
Fellow Creative Writing MFA candidate Wilkinson has contributed articles to The Atlantic, Forbes, Reason, Slate, The Economist and Boston Review. He also is a regular commentator on American Public Media’s “Marketplace” and serves as the non-fiction editor for UH’s Gulf Coast literary journal. Read one of Wilkinson’s Gulf Coast essays here.
J.S.A. Lowe is a doctoral student in the Creative Writing Program. Her poetry has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Third Coast, Chicago Review, DIAGRAM, Salt Hill and Harvard Review. She also has authored two chapbooks “DOE” and “Cherry-emily.” Lowe is an online editor for Gulf Coast. Her poem “A Doily” can be read here.
The Gulf Coast Reading Series is an extension of UH’s acclaimed Gulf Coast, A Journal of Literature and Fine Art. Readings are conducted every fall and spring.
Founded in 1986 by Donald Barthelme and Philip Lopate, Gulf Coast spotlights the literary and visual arts communities. Gulf Coast is a partnership between CWP, the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston and the Menil Collection. It reviews submissions from artists and writers from around the country. To learn more about the Gulf Coast journal and the reading series, visit www.gulfcoastmag.org.
As part of UH's English department, CWP offers fiction and non-fiction writers and poets intensive training in both creative writing and literary studies. It offers two graduate degrees: the Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. CWP's noted faculty includes award-winning authors and poets such as novelist Antonya Nelson, poet and non-fiction writer Nick Flynn, graphic novelist Mat Johnson and poet Tony Hoagland. To learn more about the program, visit www.class.uh.edu/cwp/.