The popular Creative Writing Reading Series is turning the page on a new chapter of literary voices at Colorado State University.

The program welcomes emerging and established literary voices to Fort Collins to take part in various events, such as public readings, audience Q&As, book signings, class visits and other outreach.

No local literary event series is complete without CSU authors, so the series also spotlights graduate student writers in the Creative Writing MFA program, as well as faculty and alumni authors.

The series kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 7:30 p.m. with Kirstin Valdez Quade, who will be reading over Zoom.

Quade is the author of The Five Wounds and Night at the Fiestas and the winner of the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Guernica, The Southern Review, The Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize Stories.

The Zoom link will be available on the Creative Writing Reading Series website.

Libraries and Creative Writing program partner to extend reach and impact

The Creative Writing Reading Series has a new partner for this year: the CSU Libraries. A strong supporter of creative artistry at the university and in Fort Collins, the Libraries contributed $10,000 to the program and provide administrative support. The funds come partially from the Burns Family Endowment and the Liggett Family Endowment.

“With the Libraries’ support we were able to immediately book national bestselling author Lauren Groff,” said Ramona Ausubel, Creative Writing Reading Series director and assistant professor.

It’s not just about the big names, though. The true aim is to build partnerships and relationships that enhance communities.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with the Creative Writing program,” said Meg Brown-Sica, assistant dean of scholarly communication and collections. “Before, we were running a parallel visiting author program. What we realized is that when CSU departments join forces to collaborate on high-impact programs, we can make the most of our resources and deepen our impact on CSU and Fort Collins.”

Ausubel agrees that the program will have a wide-reaching impact: “The collaboration will help us build stronger bridges between the English department, the Libraries and the literary community in all kinds of exciting and meaningful ways.”

The Libraries and Creative Writing program also recently collaborated to create a new writer-in-residence position at the Libraries. The inaugural writer-in-residence, Eliana Meyer (MFA ’22), will help coordinate Creative Writing Reading Series events at the Morgan Library. She will also bolster creative artistry at the University through collaboration with outreach librarians and marketing staff at the Libraries. The residence program was piloted by the Libraries earlier this year with a poet-in-residence, Grace Cooper (BA ’22).