Maslow Foundation Salon Reading Series at Wilkes University Highlights Maslow Family Creative Writing Program from Jan. 5-11

Alumni Debut Authors and Prize-Winning Guest Authors Featured

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WILKES-BARRE, PA (12/18/2017) Wilkes University's Maslow Foundation Salon Reading Series, which highlights the January 2018 residency for the University's Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing Program, features debut authors, program faculty and prize-winning authors as guest readers.

The series opens on Friday, Jan. 5, with a special event featuring readings by four creative writing program alumni whose first books will debut in 2018. They include Sam Chiarelli, a Pittston, Pa., resident; Lauren Stahl of Forty Fort, Pa.; Joyce Victor of Hanover Township, Pa.; and J.C. Alonso of Florida.

The series ends Thursday, Jan. 11, with another special event which will feature three guest readers and two Wilkes faculty members. Guest readers include adult and young adult novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard, whose novel The Deep End of the Ocean was an Oprah's Book Club selection and was made into a feature film. Other special guests include poet Oliver de la Paz and Rigoberto Gonzalez, a poet, novelist and nonfiction writer whose work has been honored with the Lambda Literary Award and the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets. Wilkes creative writing faculty members who will be reading are Jeff Talarigo, whose novel In The Cemetery of the Orange Trees, will be published in February 2018, and poet and faculty member Philip Brady.

Friday's special alumni reading starts at 7:30 p.m. in the ballroom of the Henry Student Center. The other nights of the reading series run from 7 to 9 p.m. each night. The Sunday reading will take place at 7 p.m. at the downtown Barnes & Noble Bookstore at Public Square, 7 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre and the subsequent readings will take place at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center at Wilkes University. A book fair, sponsored by Barnes & Noble, features books for purchase by the authors. All readings are free and open to the public.

The full schedule for the week follows:

FRIDAY, Jan. 5 -- 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Henry Student Center Ballroom, 84 W. South St., Wilkes-Barre.

A special alumni reading by debut authors will be followed by a reception and book signings. Readers include Sam Chiarelli, Joyce Victor, Lauren Stahl, and J.C. Alonso. The event is sponsored by Kaylie Jones Books, Akashic Press, Books by Hippocampus and Northampton House Press

The following reading is at Barnes & Noble, S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre

SUNDAY, Jan. 7 - 7 to 9 p.m. Bookfair begins.

Opening night will feature fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry readings by program faculty. Faculty readers include Lenore Hart, Nina Solomon, David Poyer, Rashidah Ismaili Abubakr, Laurie Lowenstein, Becky Bradway, J. Michael Lennon, John Bowers, Nancy McKinley

The following readings are at Dorothy Dickson Darte Center, Wilkes University campus. The bookfair continues throughout the week.

MONDAY, Jan. 8 - 7 to 9 p.m.

Screenwriting and film take center stage on film night with a screening of Deidra and Laney Rob a Train followed by a discussion with the film's producer, Susan Cartsonis. Cartsonis is a member of the program's screenwriting faculty.

TUESDAY, Jan. 9 - 7 to 9 p.m.

The night will feature the work of fiction, poetry and nonfiction program faculty, including Christine Gelineau, Taylor Polites, Donna Talarico, Bill Schneider, Beverly Donofrio, Kaylie Jones, Robert Mooney, Laurie Jean Cannady, Tim Seibles.

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 10 - 7 to 9 p.m.

Playwrights night will feature a reading of playwriting faculty member Jean Klein's work, "The Refraction of Light." Other playwriting faculty include Bonnie Culver, Juanita Rockwell, Gregory Fletcher, Robert Arthur and Jan Quackenbush.

THURSDAY, Jan. 11 - 7 to 9 p.m..

The final night will feature readings by Wilkes faculty and special guests. Guest writers reading their work include novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard, poets Oscar de la Paz and Rigoberto Gonzalez, and faculty authors Jeff Talarigo and Philip Brady.

About Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Creative Writing Program

The Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Creative Writing Program is an accredited, nationally recognized low-residency program offering both an M.A. and an M.F.A. in creative writing with five areas of concentration: fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting and playwriting. The program also added a new master of arts degree in publishing in June 2013 and a track in documentary film in June 2014. Both the publishing and documentary film tracks are 30 credit low-residency programs. Students in all programs spend eight-day residencies in January and June on campus and complete the project semesters online. For more information, please visit www.wilkes.edu/creativewriting or call 570-408-4527.

About Wilkes University:

Wilkes University is an independent institution of higher education dedicated to academic and intellectual excellence through mentoring in the liberal arts, sciences and professional programs. Founded in 1933, the university is on a mission to create one of the great small universities, offering all of the programs, activities and opportunities of a large, research university in the intimate, caring and mentoring environment of a small, liberal arts college, at a cost that is increasingly competitive with public universities. The Economist named Wilkes 25th in the nation for the value of its education for graduates. In addition to 43 bachelor's degree programs, Wilkes offers 25 master's degree programs and five doctoral/terminal degree programs, including the doctor of philosophy in nursing, doctor of nursing practice, doctor of education, doctor of pharmacy, and master of fine arts in creative writing. Learn more at www.wilkes.edu.

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