Writers Ann Beattie and Mark Doty, as well as Duke English professor Joe Ashby Porter, will read their work during the Archive Literary Festival beginning Feb. 21.
The student-run festival, founded in 1959, returns to its original name this year after being known for many years as the Blackburn Literary Festival. The name was changed to avoid confusion with a separate residency in the English Department, also named after renowned former English professor William Blackburn.
The event brings together fiction writers, poets and critics who share their work with students, faculty and the community. Past years have included Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje and John Irving.
This year's readings begin Feb. 21 with Mark Doty, a poet and memoirist who has been described as "the poetic chronicler of the AIDS epidemic." Doty is the first American poet to have won the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize and is the author of the poetry collection "Source" and the memoir "Heaven's Coast." He will be reading from his newest work, "School of the Arts: Poems."
Doty will read, answer questions and sign books at 8 p.m. in East Duke Parlors in the East Duke Building on East Campus.
Ann Beattie is the author of seven novels and eight collections of stories, most recently "Follies: New Stories." She has been included in four O. Henry Award Collections and John Updike's Best American Short Stories of the Century. Besides "Follies," her body of work includes the novels "Falling in Place," "Another You" and "The Doctor's House."
Beattie will read and answer questions at 8 p.m. April 14 in the Rare Book Room of Perkins Library on West Campus.
Joe Ashby Porter is the author of the novels "Eelgrass" and "Resident Aliens." He has also published several collections of short fiction, including "The Kentucky Stories" "Lithuania: Short Stories" and "Touch Wood." His awards include two NEA Creative Writing Fellowships, and an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Literature. He will be reading his new work, a novel called "The Near Future."
Porter will read at 8 p.m. March 31 in the Thomas Room in Lilly Library on East Campus.
Organizer Marguerite Hoyler, a Duke undergraduate, said this year's festival also has another new component: The writers will each be teaching a masters class during their stay. Students have responded enthusiastically and the classes are all full, she said.
"This is something different about the festival. It is really trying to increase student interaction with the people whom we bring to campus," Hoyler said.
This year's events are listed below. All events are free and refreshments will be served. Visit www.duke.edu/web/litfest for more information, or contact Hoyler at mmh19@duke.edu.
Mark Doty, poet
Reading, Q&A, and Book-signing
East Duke Parlors, East Duke Building, 8 p.m. Feb. 21
Joe Ashby Porter, fiction writer
Reading
The Thomas Room, Lilly Library, 8 p.m. March 31
Ann Beattie, fiction writer
Reading and Q&A
Rare Book Room, Perkins Library, 8 p.m. April 14