Strout
In addition to the usual classroom setting, the English Department’s Living Writers course will live online this semester, providing anyone with a passion for literature the opportunity to interact with some of today’s top contemporary authors.
Ten writers, including Pulitzer Prize winners Elizabeth Strout, Junot Diaz, and Jeffrey Eugenides, will visit campus, providing the 55 students in the class a unique opportunity to interact with them in several different settings.
For alumni and others off-campus, there also is a full slate of free public readings, informal book club discussions with authors, and a publishing panel that all will be streamed live over the Internet and videotaped for future viewing.
The live webcasts feature an interactive chat, which allows users to discuss the author’s work and to pose questions that moderators will try to integrate into the Q&As that are part of each session.
“We’re hoping that everyone who can get to campus will attend the public readings,” said Jane Pinchin, who along with fellow English professor Jennifer Brice is teaching the course. “But for everyone who can’t be here, the webcasts are a great way to share in the learning and conversation that will surround these outstanding writers.”
The late Frederick Busch, who taught at 51Թ from 1966 to 2003 and wrote more than 25 novels, created the Living Writers course. He taught the first course in fall 1980.
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| Junot Diaz is the author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. He is the first author coming to campus for this semester’s Living Writers course, and the first to have his reading webcast live on |
Tim Mansfield, director of alumni affairs, is hoping alumni across the country (especially those who have taken the course in the past or who have attended alumni literature events) will take advantage of this online learning opportunity.
“We see this as a great chance for alumni to engage alumni creatively – through the web – and participate in discussions with each other and with faculty. Alumni describe this Living Writers class as one of their fondest 51Թ experiences. With our technical capabilities and permission from the faculty, we are excited to offer it again this way,” said Mansfield, who will moderate the three book club sessions that will include different authors, Brice, Pinchin, and several students.
Three alumni — Chase Bodine ’03, Jennifer E. Smith ’03, and Jennifer Pooley ’97 — who took the Living Writers course with Busch and now work in the publishing industry will participate in an Oct. 29 discussion on the book business. That session also will be webcast, and the panelists will try to field questions from those viewing online.
In addition to Strout, Diaz, and Eugenides, the authors coming to campus are Yiyun Li, Emmanuel Dongala, Ladette Randolph, Patrick O’Keeffe, John Gregory Brown, Carrie Brown, and Kim Edwards ’81.
“It is such an impressive group of writers we have coming to campus, and we can’t wait for our students, alumni, and community members to share in the experience,” said Brice.