UPDATED: Sept. 18 at 11:56 p.m.

Some of today’s most prominent authors have taught at Syracuse University’s Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing. But while their classes are only for students in the program, the Raymond Carver Reading Series offers free readings for the public to learn from other refined writers.

This fall, six visiting authors will read their work after Q&A sessions with audiences in Gifford Auditorium. The series is part of the undergraduate class ETS 107: “Living Writers,” which is taught by teaching assistants in the M.F.A. program. Alumnus Leonard Elman and his wife, Elise, also sponsor two distinguished writers for two-day residencies at SU through the Raymond Carver Reading Series.

Solmaz Sharif, a poet, will visit Wednesday as part of the series. The annual Leonard and Elise Elman Visiting Writer, Carl Phillips, will do a reading Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m. All Q&A sessions run from 3:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“It is always illuminating to hear authors read their own work,” said Sarah Harwell, a professor and graduate of the M.F.A. program, in an email. “Being read to, especially by the author, gives the work a vibrancy and depth that is on a whole other order of experience.”

Harwell said students in the Living Writers class read books written by the authors in the series lineup, which allows them to ask questions and interact with writers prior to the start of the readings.

“It’s an important component of the class,” Harwell said. “No other class, that I know of, gives students a chance to speak directly to the author of the work they have studied.”

The teaching assistants instruct the coursework based on a given syllabus but decide how to discuss the visiting writers’ books in class and which outside materials to use. Because they’re also writers, some third-year M.F.A. students return to SU as authors in the Raymond Carver Reading Series.

“They bring a special kind of expertise to the classes, and a passion, which, I think, helps to orient the students in the sometimes unfamiliar world of contemporary literature,” Harwell said.

The benefits of the series don’t belong only to undergraduates. Harwell said the reading series also gives M.F.A. students the chance to meet mentors, colleagues and friends.

Here is a list of this semester’s readings:

Who: Noy Holland: “The Spectacle of the Body,” “I Was Trying to Describe What It Feels Like”
When: Sept. 27 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Gifford Auditorium in Huntington Beard Crouse Hall

Who: Kaitlyn Greendige: “We Love You,” “Charlie Freeman”
When: Oct. 11 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Gifford Auditorium in HBC

Who: Charl Phillips: “Reconnaissance,” “The Rest of Love,” “Pastoral”
When: Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Gifford Auditorium in HBC

Who: Reginald Dwayne Betts: “Bastards of the Reagan Era,” “A Question of Freedom,” “Shahid Reads His Own Palm”
When: Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Gifford Auditorium in HBC

Who: Angela Flournoy: “The Turner House”
When: Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Gifford Auditorium in HBC

There will be additional readings in the spring semester, totaling about 12 for the year.

This post has been updated with appropriate style.

Published on September 18, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Contact Mary: mdcatalf@syr.edu | @mrycatalfamo