The department’s Visiting Writing Series brings esteemed poets, fiction writers and nonfiction authors to the campus and community. These events include public readings and provide an opportunity for students and the community to engage with contemporary literature and the creative process.
The series features a diverse lineup of nationally and internationally recognized authors who contribute to the literary landscape. Previous visiting writers have included award-winning poets and such authors as Ada Limón, Ann Beattie, Silas House, Roxane Gay, Viet Thanh Nquyen, Li-Young Lee, Nicole Chung and Tayari Jones. This program enriches the academic environment and provides aspiring writers with inspiration and practical knowledge from leading figures in the literary world. All events are free and open to the public. Support for the Visiting Writers Series is provided by generous donors. We welcome contributions to the English MFA Visiting Writers Fund.
Fall 2026
- Visiting Writers Series presents: Sandra Beasley
Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026
5 p.m.
Alumni Auditorium inside William T Young Library
Sandra Beasley is author of four poetry collections: - "Made to Explode," winner of the Housatonic Book Award.
- "Count the Waves."
- "I Was the Jukebox," winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize.
- "Theories of Falling," winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize.
Honors for her work include a 2015 NEA Literature Fellowship, the Center for Book Arts Chapbook Prize, the John Montague International Poetry Fellowship, and six DCCAH Artist Fellowships. She is also the author of the memoir "Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life" and the editor of "Vinegar and Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance." She lives in Washington, D.C. She serves as the poetry editor for Blair, a nonprofit press based in Durham, North Carolina.
Spring 2027
Visiting Writers Series presents: Natasha Trethewey
Wednesday, March 24, 2027
5:30 p.m.
Singletary Center Recital Hall.
Natasha Trethewey served two terms as the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States (2012-2014). She is the author of five collections of poetry:
- "Monument" (2018), which was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award.
- "Thrall" (2012).
- "Native Guard" (2006), for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
- "Bellocq’s Ophelia" (2002).
- "Domestic Work" (2000), which was selected by Rita Dove as the winner of the first Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the best first book by an African American poet and won both the 2001 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize and the 2001 Lillian Smith Award for Poetry.
In addition to her poetry, Trethewey is the author of two memoirs: "The House of Being" (2024) and "Memorial Drive" (2020). Her book of nonfiction, "Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast," appeared in 2010.
She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Beinecke Library at Yale and the Bunting Fellowship Program of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.
At Northwestern University, she is a Board of Trustees Professor of English in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. In 2012, she was named Poet Laureate of the State of Mississippi and in 2013 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
For more information about the Visiting Writers Series, contact Shauna Morgan or Robin Rahija.