Alumni Reading at Books & Books

Four recent graduates of FIU's MFA Creative Writing Program read vibrant and thought-provoking works Sept. 9 at our annual alumni Writers on the Bay reading at Books & Books in Coral Gables. Yaddyra Peralta's birthplace, Honduras, came alive in her verse. Ex-military men confronted horrors in a Nazi research facility in postwar Germany in James Elens' novel. A failed psychic set-up shop in Anjanette Delgado's novel to help jilted women navigate divorce court. Poet Guillermo Cancio-Bello tackled the old human mysteries, love and nature. A wonderful Sunday afternoon to celebrate literature!  Many thanks to Fabienne Merritt for photographing the event.

Guests socialize before the reading.

Professor Deborah Dean welcomes the audience.

MFA Program Director, Les Standiford, introduces the readers.

Guillermo Cancio-Bello

Anjanette Delgado

James Elens

Yaddyra Peralta

Professor Lynne Barrett congratulates her former student.

Professor John Dufresne and members of the MFA community catch up.

FIU Student Literary Award Winners Announced

Congratulations to all the winners of the FIU Student Literary Awards!

POETRY (Judge: John Hodgen)
Graduate Winner: Julio Machado, "Maid Hour"
Graduate Runner-up: Patrick Norris, "Luciferge", "Ohio's Finest", "I Like Fish"
Undergraduate Winner: Valeria Manavallo, "Franz"
Undergraduate Runner-up: Melanie Martinez, "Boondocks"

NONFICTION (Judge: Kat Meads)
Graduate Winners (a tie)
Justin Bendell, "Kurt Cobain Avengers"
Jennifer Maritza McCauley, "New Britain Ghosts"
Graduate Runner-up" Fabienne Josaphat, "When Looking in the Mirror"

FICTION (Judge: M. Evelina Galang)
Graduate Winner: James Elens, "Brothers After the Storm"
Graduate Runner-up: Alexandra Handwerger, "Girl Scouts"
Undergraduate Winner: Brett Kaplan, "Monty"

Academy of American Poets Prize (Judge: Michael Hettich)
Winner: Marci Calabretta
First Runner-up: Parker Phillips
Second Runner-up: Amy Hughes

Isabel Allende Receives Lawrence Sanders Award at FIU

Isabel Allende received the Lawrence Sanders Award, given by the Creative Writing Program, on the evening of March 5th.  After the award presentation, a standing room only audience enjoyed listening  to a warm, witty, and moving conversation between Allende and Professor Debra Dean.

The award, established in 2010, is given to an author whose work demonstrates the highest literary merit and has gained popular appeal.  Previous recipients are Scott Turow and Pat Conroy. With 19 books that have sold more than 57 million copies in 35 languages, Allende epitomizes the spirit of the award. The Chilean author began her writing career as a journalist and has since collected an array of literary awards from around the world. She has addressed the question of popular appeal and literary merit, writing in the UK’s Observer, “The fact people think that when you sell a lot of books you are not a serious writer is a great insult to the readership.”

Writers on the Bay Reading Series: Luis Alberto Urrea, February 16

 Please join us for our next Writers on the Bay Reading!

 Luis Alberto Urrea

Thursday, February 16, 2012

8:00 p.m.

F.I.U Biscayne Bay Bookstore

Wolfe University Center, First Floor

3000 N.E. 151st Street
North Miami, Florida 33181

Luis Alberto Urrea, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, is the best-selling author of 14 books, most recently Queen of America. The sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter, The Queen of America continues the spellbinding saga of his distant relation, Teresita Urrea, also known as the Saint of Cabora. 

Winner of numerous awards, Urrea is a novelist, poet and essayist known for his lyrical and sometimes brutal reflections on life along the US-Mexico border. He is Distinguished Professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

This reading is free and open to the public. A reception and book-sigining will follow.

For further information, please email Marta Lee at leem @ fiu.edu