For Angelo Miguel Hernandez-Sias, hearing from professional writers through the Raymond Carver Reading Series is a transformative experience.

“You get to experience an author not only bring their work to life through their performance of it, but also to hear them reflect on the work and what went into making it and getting a behind the scenes look as well,” said Hernandez-Sias, a third year MFA student in Syracuse University’s creative writing program.

Through the series, which runs for nearly three months, prominent writers read their award winning books and foster meaningful conversation. The readings are open to anyone, and take place in Gifford Auditorium every other Wednesday at 4 p.m., though some dates may fluctuate.
SU professor Sarah Harwell considers the series to be transformational in one’s understanding of literature. Hearing the books read aloud really changes the experience and gives the audience a chance to hear how the author is shaping their narrative in their head as they are writing, she said.
“It’s a really deep conversation about whatever issues the person is talking about, whether it’s racism or gender or just what it means to be human,” Harwell said. “We all are constantly confused about what it means to be human and a really big part of why people write is to figure out what that means.”

Matthew Kwan Grzecki, coordinator of the MFA program, said that there are many factors that play a part in choosing who reads at each event year after year.
“The whole process for deciding who to invite is very collaborative,” Grzecki said.
Students and faculty are able to send in requests about which writers they’re interested in speaking with. Then Grzecki and Harwell compile a selection of six writers based on availability, funding, budget and diversity. They also build connections with possible guest readers through conferences and social events, sometimes years before they intend on reading.

Hernandez-Sias mentions that graduate students in the program also get the opportunity to have dinner with the author and faculty after the reading, where they can continue asking questions in a more informal, intimate setting.
“I love the diversity of the writers, the diversity of the writing styles, the wide range of subjects and experiences — from gun violence, to the unreliability of masculinity, to the unruliness of desire, to end of life issues, to plants, to missing children,” Harwell said. “But most of all I love the writing — all the writers are just really terrific.”
More on this year’s speakers

This year, the faculty has invited six award-winning authors, instructors and editors — Alyssa Sonsiridej, Marcus Wicker, Jonathan Dee, Ashley Farmer, Namwali Serpell and Vievee Francis.

Songsiridej is an editor at Electric Literature and fiction writer whose short stories have been published in the “Indiana Review,” “Story Quarterly,” “QWERTY Magazine” and “Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art.” Her first novel, “Little Rabbit” came out May 2022 and explores the crossing of boundaries into self-destructive desire.

Wicker is the Poetry Editor of “Southern Indiana Review” as well as associate professor of English at the University of Memphis, where he teaches in the MFA program. He is the author of “Maybe the Saddest Thing,” which was selected by D.A. Powell for the National Poetry Series, and “Silencer,” winner of the Society of Midland Authors Award. His work addresses gun violence, police brutality against African Americans on the news and timeless social issues of race.

Dees, an SU Associate Professor and Director of the Creative Writing program, has authored seven fictions. His novel “The Privileges” was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize and winner of the 2011 Prix Fitzgerald and the St. Francis College Literary Prize.

Farmer writes creative nonfiction, fiction and poetry with work appearing in multiple publications. She has authored four books, including the essay collection “Dear Damage,” which won the 2020 Series in Kentucky Literature.

Serpell is a tenured full Professor of English at Harvard University and previously taught at the University of California, Berkeley. She has written short stories, essays, criticisms, film, television and book reviews. Serpell’s first novel “The Old Drift” “confronts racism and explores diversity” and — along with other awards — was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2019 by the New York Times Book Review.

Francis is an associate professor at Dartmouth College and associate editor for “Callaloo.” She is the author of “The Shared World,” “Blue-Tail Fly,” “Horse in the Dark and Forest Primeval.” Francis’ poetry has won numerous awards, including the Kingsley Tufts poetry award, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry, a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award, the 2021 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry and a Kresge fellowship.

Published on September 13, 2022 at 12:44 am