Readings at Ramapo

Readings at Ramapo brings authors of national and international note to campus to read, teach, and discuss their work. This series fosters a sense of community among students and faculty and maintains a connection between the College and literary culture in the United States and abroad. Visitors include recipients of some of the most prestigious awards and honors in letters today, including the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, National Humanities Medals, various PEN awards, and MacArthur Fellowships. Funded by the School of Humanities and Global Studies, the Schomburg Program, and the Office of the Provost, Readings at Ramapo is an embodiment of the College’s commitment to bringing the world to its students.

Fall 2017

David Galef, Master Class on Flash Fiction

Wednesday, 9/20, 4 PM – 5 PM, B-225

David Galef is an American fiction writer, critic, poet, translator, and essayist because he can’t seem to make up his mind what to specialize in, though he’s been a writer for 40 years. He has published over fifteen books, from novels and short story collections and children’s books to poetry books, criticism, and translation. A few highlights: His third novel, How to Cope with Suburban Stress, was one of Kirkus’ 30 Best Books of 2007. His second short story collection, My Date with Neanderthal Woman, won Dzanc Books’ inaugural short story collection prize, and the title story was performed at Selected Shorts at Symphony Space. His latest book is Brevity: A Flash Fiction Handbook. Galef is a professor of English and the creative writing program director at Montclair State University.

Ada Limon, Reading

Thursday, 10/26, 7:30 PM -8:30 PM, York Room

Ada Limón is the author of four books of poetry, including Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Poetry, a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, and one of the Top Ten Poetry Books of the Year by The New York Times. Her other books include Lucky Wreck, This Big Fake World, and Sharks in the Rivers. She serves on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency M.F.A program, and the 24Pearl Street online program for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. She also works as a freelance writer splitting her time between Lexington, Kentucky and Sonoma, California.

Sarah Blackman and John Pursley III, Thursday, 11/2 

Q&A 4:30-5:30, Pavilion

Joint Reading 6:30-7:30, Pavilion

Sarah Blackman is the director of Creative Writing at the Fine Arts Center, a public arts magnet school in Greenville, South Carolina where she lives with the poet John Pursley III and their two daughters. She is the co-fiction editor of DIAGRAM and the founding editor of Crashtest, an online magazine for high school age writers. Her poetry and prose has been published or is forthcoming in APR, The Gettysburg Review, Conjunctions, Oxford American, and The Georgia Review, among other magazines. Her short story collection, Mother Box, was the winner of the Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Award and was published by Fc2 in 2013. Her novel, Hex, was published by the same press in 2016.
John Pursley III teaches contemporary literature and poetry at Clemson University. He is the author of the poetry collection, If You Have Ghosts, as well as the chapbooks, A Story without Poverty and A Conventional Weather, among others. In addition he works as the poetry editor of Burnside Review and is an assistant editor for the South Carolina Review. His poems and reviews have appeared in Poetry, AGNI, Kenyon Review and Mississippi Review.

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

• Early September: Fiction Writers David Hollander. Jonathan Callahan
• Mid October: Pultizer Prize Winning Poet Peter Balakian co-sponsored with Gross center.
• November 2: Acclaimed Novelist Jim Shepard
• December: student reading showcasing some of our best creative writing students.

Spring 2017

• Feb 2 Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo
  co-sponsored by the Schomburg Fund
• Feb 23 Acclaimed Poet Li-Young Lee
• co-sponsored by the Schomburg Fund
• Early April Fiction Writer Amber Sparks
• May: student reading showcasing some of our best creative writing students.

In addition, we will be offering a few craft classes and student readings throughout the year.

Past Readings @ Ramapo

• November 10, 2015 Poet and Memoirist Mark Doty
• October 5, 2015 Poet Cate Marvin and Fiction Writer David Means
• April 22, 2014 Poet Nick Samaras
• April 3, 2014 Claire Vaye Watkins
• Feb 27, 2014 Anthony Grooms
• Nov 4, 2013 Poet Yusef Komunyakaa
• Feb 18 2013 Poet Nick Norwood
• Sept 24 2013 Poet Beth Ann Fennelly and Fiction Writer Tom Franklin
• Nov 12. 2012 Joyce Carol Oates
• Feb. 14 2012 Poet Terrance Hayes, Winner of the National Book Award
• Oct. 29 2009 Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky
• Natasha Trethewey
• Nick Flynn
• Michael Harper
• Major Jackson
• Camille Dungy
• C. Dell Young
• Patrick Phillips
• Phil Klay
• Tayari Jones
• Kevin Clark
• Charles Baxter
• Rigaberto Gonzalez
• Paisley Rekdal
• Victoria Redel
• Joel Brouwer
• Wendy Rawlings
• Adrienne Rich
• Alex Lemon
• Beth Bachman
• Jess Row
• Jeffrey McDaniel
• Anne Panning
• B.J. Ward
• Dana Levin