DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire English Department kicks off its 2010-11 Writers Series with award-winning poet Tony Hoagland Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010.

Each year, the English Department brings prominent writers of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to UNH to read from their work in public presentations and, in most cases, to spend in-class time with students during the day. The 2010-2011 UNH Writers Series is proud to present another strong lineup of writers who are recognized internationally for their outstanding literary work.

All Writers Series events will be held at 5 p.m. in Memorial Union Building Theatre I, and are free and open to the public.

Hoagland was a finalist in the National Book Critics Circle Award for his 2003 collection of poetry, What Narcissism Means to Me. Hoagland's other honors include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the O.B. Hardisson Prize for Poetry and Teaching from the Folger Shakespeare Library, as well as the Poetry Foundation's 2005 Mark Twain Award in recognition of his contribution to humor in American poetry. His fourth full-length collection of poems, Unincorporated Persons of the Late Honda Dynasty, was published in February 2010. 

On Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, author Elyssa East will read from her book, "Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town," which was named a "Must-Read Book" by the Massachusetts Book Awards and selected as an Editor's Choice of the New York Times Sunday Book Review. East received her bachelor's in art history from Reed College and her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University's School of Arts, where she was the recipient of three prestigious fellowships. The former coordinator of the influential KGB Bar's Columbia University Faculty Selects Reading Series, East lives in New York City.

Debra Spark comes to campus Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011, to read from her novel "Good for the Jews," which won the 2009 Michigan Literary Fiction Award and was named a finalist in the 2009 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award in the general fiction category. Her short stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in publications including Food and Wine, Esquire, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Yankee. She is a professor at Colby College and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. 

On Thursday, April 7, 2011, Darcy Frey will visit to read from his book "The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams," which was named an Editor's Choice and Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review. He is also a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he has written on science, medicine, technology, the environment, architecture and music. Currently, Frey teaches nonfiction writing at Harvard University, where he is also a Nieman Fellow in Journalism. He is at work on his second book, "George Divoky's Planet: The Future as Seen by a Lonely Scientist at the End of the Earth." 

For more information about the Writers Series, please contact the English Department: (603) 862-1313, or visit the English Department website: http://www.unh.edu/english/.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

PHOTOS
Tony Hoagland
/unhtoday/sites/default/files/newsroom/img/Hoagland.jpg

Debra Spark
/unhtoday/sites/default/files/newsroom/img/debra_spark.JPG

Elyssa East
/unhtoday/sites/default/files/newsroom/img/East_Elyssa.JPG

Darcy Frey
/unhtoday/sites/default/files/newsroom/img/frey.JPG

-30-