Esteemed Authors To Visit Manhattan College this Fall
The College’s Major Author Reading Series (M.A.R.S.) will commence on Sept. 18 with writer Jen McClanaghan.
As part of Manhattan College’s biannual Major Author Reading Series (M.A.R.S.), three noted authors will visit campus during the fall semester. On Thursday, Sept. 18, acclaimed writer Jen McClanaghan will launch the series at 6:30 p.m., followed by novelist Ben Marcus and poet Erica Dawson later this fall.
Connecticut native Jen McClanaghan is currently an assistant professor and writer-in-residence at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. McClanaghan’s debut collection of poetry, River Legs, was published earlier this year and was the winner of the Kore Press 2013 First Book Prize.
Award-winning poet David Wojahn describes McClanaghan’s work as, “Reflective but tough-minded, filled with self-reckonings but shorn of self-pity, and fearless in its ability to mix the lyric sublime with a solid measure of the absurd. River Legs is a powerful and haunting debut.”
McClanaghan’s other poetry works include “My Lie” (The New Yorker, January 2012), “Easy For a God” (Sycamore Review, Winter/Spring 2009), and “Magician’s Assistant Sawed in Two” (first appeared in FIELD, Spring 2009). FIELD also nominated McClanaghan for the Best New Poets anthology. In addition, her online pieces consist of: “The Beginning” (Shenandoah), “Greatest Show on Earth” (AGNI), and “Your Own Private Oil Spill” (The Missouri Review’s poem of the week).
In the past, McClanaghan worked in publishing, served as resident scholar at The Southern Review, and taught in Louisiana State University’s English department.
Following McClanaghan, Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet (2012), will speak on campus on Oct. 23, and the series will conclude on Nov. 13 with Erica Dawson, author of two collections of poetry, The Small Blades Hurt and Big-Eyed Afraid.
Designed to engage and expose students to contemporary literature, M.A.R.S. has brought several notable writers to campus for readings and book signings since its inception in 2010.
All of the events are free, open to the public, and will be held in Hayden Hall, room 100. M.A.R.S. is co-sponsored by the College’s English department and the School of Arts, in cooperation with the Women and Gender Studies program.
For more information about M.A.R.S., please contact Adam Koehler, associate professor of English, at (718) 862-7546 or adam.koehler@manhattan.edu or Dominika Wrozynski, assistant professor of English, at (718) 862-7921 or dominika.wrozynski@manhattan.edu.