Creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is enjoying a renaissance: With about 30 students enrolled in the graduate program and a growing faculty that continues to gain critical praise, the program is building its national reputation.
Coordinator and associate professor Timothy Schaffert wanted to accelerate that momentum to include undergraduates, so he and fellow faculty have organized a month of events featuring top writers in a variety of genres. The authors will give public lectures and work with students.
Nebraska undergraduates can have a creative writing concentration in an English major. By grouping together events and adding discussions to curriculum, Schaffert said he hopes to underline the creative writing programming available for undergraduates.
“This does two things for the program: It brings additional attention to these great writers that we have visiting campus, and we hope it increases and supports a literary writing community among our undergraduates,” Schaffert said.
Among the highlights is a talk by David Ebershoff, author of “The Danish Girl,” which was adapted into a motion picture that earned four Academy Award nominations. Ebershoff will give a public lecture 3:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Center for Great Plains Studies, 1155 Q St. Ebershoff also will spend time in undergraduate English courses.
A complete schedule can be found here. Events open to the public are:
3:30 p.m. Oct 4, Andrews Hall, Bailey Library: Skype chat w/ Grant Faulkner, about National Novel Writing Month [http://nanowrimo.org]
7 p.m. Oct 5, Nebraska Union Colonial Room: Jericho Brown, poet and author of “Please” and “The New Testament.”
5 p.m. Oct 6, Andrews Hall, Bailey Library: Reyna Grande, novelist and memoirist and author of “Dancing With Butterflies.”
3:30 p.m. Oct. 13, Center for Great Plains Studies: David Ebershoff, author of “The Danish Girl,” the basis for the award-winning film
3:30 p.m. Oct. 20, Nebraska Union auditorium: Chantel Acevedo, novelist, author of “Love And Ghost Letters” and winner of the Latino International Book Award
7 p.m. Oct. 26, The Crib in the Nebraska Union: UNL Slam Poetry
3:30 p.m. Oct. 26, Center for Great Plains Studies: Jonis Agee, Adele Hall Professor of English, novelist and author of “The Bones Of Paradise.”
