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The Creative Writing Program will bring attention to alums and current students this semester, with a full slate of events that highlight their achievements, all while placing a renewed focus on community, collaboration and literary excellence at �����о�Ժ���� and beyond.

From award-winning book launches to student readings and alumni panels, several events throughout the year will feature the breadth and depth of the campus’s many talented individuals and opportunities.

To kick off the semester, the Creative Writing Program will host a Welcome Mixer, from 6-8 p.m. today, Thursday, Sept. 4, in the Jay S. and Jeanne Benet Alumni Lounge, Old O’Connor Hall. This gathering is open to everyone — undergraduates, graduate students and community members alike. This event is an opportunity for peers to hear from coordinators and editors of Harpur Palate and the Common Ground Reading Series, among others, and learn details about upcoming collaborations and awards. There will be readings by winners of literary awards available through the CW Program and the English Department, as well as faculty appearances, food and time to socialize with fellow writers.

“At the start of each academic year, we’re especially excited to help students connect, with one another and with the broader creative writing community,” said Tina Chang, the director of the Creative Writing Program. “Writing doesn’t have to be an isolated endeavor. We hope students view their creative pursuits as something that grows through collaboration and shared experience. Whether it’s meeting student editors, taking a leap to share their work in front of an audience or taking part in writing collectives, there are so many ways to get involved and feel part of something larger.”

This semester, another opportunity to experience live readings by undergraduate and graduate student writers arrives in the form of the first Common Ground Reading, taking place from 6-7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, in the Jay S. & Jeanne Benet Alumni Lounge, Old O’Connor Hall. Additional readings will take place later in the year, on Wednesday, Oct. 15, and Friday, Nov. 7.

From 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, the CW Program will be celebrating the launch of current PhD student AJ White’s debut poetry collection, Blue Loop, which won the National Poetry Series earlier this year. Selected by Chelsea Dingman for the National Poetry Series, this book offers an exploration of the path to recovery through acceptance and meditation on those qualities of the universe reflected in the self. Learn more about White and his work here!

“It’s been an honor to watch AJ’s work grow in confidence and vision. The publication of Blue Loop represents a significant early success for a writer in the final stages of his graduate studies,” Chang said.

“Since AJ is here for this milestone, we want to help him launch his book into the world with a flourish,” added Jen DeGregorio, associate director of the Creative Writing program. “The fact that his book won the National Poetry Series, one of the highest honors for a poetry collection in the U.S., is even more reason to celebrate!”

White is just one student from the Creative Writing Program being highlighted on campus this semester who is making waves in the larger literary world. This fall’s Distinguished Writers Series will feature celebrated poet Shara McCallum, PhD’99. Supported by the Harpur College Dean’s Office, the Office of the Provost, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies, this event

Will be held from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, in The Jay S. and Jeanne Benet Alumni Lounge, Old O’Connor Hall. The event will include a reading by McCallum and a conversation with Warren Harding, assistant professor of English, who will also facilitate a question-and-answer session with the audience. The author of seven books published in the U.S. and U.K., including Behold, forthcoming in 2026 and No Ruined Stone, winner of the 2022 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry, McCallum has received recognition for her work in the form of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Musgrave Medal and an NEA Poetry Fellowship, among others. She is presently an Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English at Penn State.

Finally, an exciting opportunity to hear from three accomplished alumni authors will come from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, when the program will host an Alumni Reading in the Jay S. and Jeanne Benet Alumni Lounge, Old O’Connor Hall, featuring poet and high school English teacher, ; novelist and associate director of First-Year Writing in the Writing Initiative, ; and nonfiction writer and associate professor of creative writing at University of Central Arkansas, .

“These three authors really represent the diverse work which Creative Writing alumni are doing out in the world. Not only are they authors with published books that are part of the national literary conversation, but they have careers that speak to the many ways studying creative writing can support a life after graduation,” said DeGregorio. “We hope that by featuring so many accomplished authors who have come through the Creative Writing Program this semester, we can inspire students and give them confidence that they have what it takes to succeed.”

You can read about these upcoming events on the CW Program’s page.