Riverdale, N.Y. (PRWEB) September 11, 2013 -- Acclaimed novelist and short story writer Mary Gaitskill will kick off Manhattan College’s Major Authors Reading Series (M.A.R.S.) on Monday, Sept. 23.
Gaitskill is the author of "Veronica", a novel nominated for the 2005 National Book Award, National Critic’s Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. She also wrote "Two Girls" and "Fat and Thin", along with story collections entitled "Bad Behavior", "Because They Wanted To" and "Don’t Cry".
According to the Village Voice, “There may be no better writer than Gaitskill at reaching deep into what she calls ... ‘the trapdoors in personality and obsession’ … Past, present, future; heartbreak, desire and loss — none of it is quite beyond her.”
Following Gaitskill, memoirist, novelist, poet and editor Jill Bialosky, who is best known for her memoir "History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life", which became a New York Times bestseller, will visit campus on Oct. 8 at 4:30 p.m. The series closes with readings from distinguished poet and critic, Alicia Ostriker on Nov. 14 at 5 p.m.
Now in its eighth consecutive semester, the M.A.R.S. series is designed to engage and expose students to contemporary literature. Since the series launched in 2010, it has brought several notable writers to campus for readings and book signings. They include The New York Times Sunday Book Review Editors’ Choice winners Josh Weil and Honor Moore; Pulitzer Prize winners Junot Diaz, Jennifer Egan and Claudia Emerson; National Book Award finalist Joshua Ferris; essayist Phillip Lopate; Marie Howe, the current Poet Laureate of New York state; and poet Iain Haley Pollock, winner of the 2010 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.
The series is co-sponsored by the College’s English department and the School of Arts, in cooperation this semester with the Women and Gender Studies program. All of the M.A.R.S. events are open to the public and will be held in Hayden Hall, room 100.
For more information about M.A.R.S., please contact Adam Koehler, assistant professor of English, at (718) 862-7546 or adam.koehler(at)manhattan(dot)edu or Dominika Wrozynski, assistant professor of English, at (718) 862-7921 or dominika.wrozynski(at)manhattan(dot)edu.
About Manhattan College:
Manhattan College is located at West 242nd Street near Broadway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, one mile from the Westchester County line and accessible by MTA subway line No. 1. For directions to the campus, visit http://www.manhattan.edu.
Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent, Lasallian Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business, education and health, engineering and science, along with continuing and professional studies, and a graduate division. For more information about Manhattan College, visit http://www.manhattan.edu.
Liz Connolly Bauman, Manhattan College, +1 (718) 862-7232, [email protected]
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