Writers series restarts with two-for-one faculty showcase

The Grand Valley Writers Series, which brings award-winning authors from around the world to campus each year, continues for the winter season with a showcase of works by two Grand Valley faculty members: Amorak Huey and Caitlin Horrocks.

Huey and Horrocks will read from selected works on Tuesday, January 31, from 6-8 p.m., in Cook-DeWitt Center.

Huey, assistant professor of writing at Grand Valley, is the author of the poetry collection Ha Ha Thump (2015) and the chapbook The Insomniac Circus (2014). His poetry and essays have appeared in The Best American Poetry 2012, The Southern Review, Brevity, Poet Lore, The Collagist, The Cincinnati Review, and many other print and digital journals. The written works of Huey recently received prestigious validation when he was one of 37 authors out of a pool of 1,800 to be awarded a Creative Writing Fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). Huey said the $25,000 fellowship grant will provide him with the time and space needed to create, revise, conduct research and connect with his readers. Before coming to Grand Valley, Huey worked for more than a decade as an editor and reporter for newspapers in Florida, Kentucky and Michigan, including serving as assistant sports editor for Grand Rapids Press.

Horrocks, associate professor of writing, is a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. Her debut story collection, This Is Not Your City, was named a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. Her stories and essays have appeared in anthologies, such as The Best American Short Stories, The PEN/O, Henry Prize Stories, and True Stories, among others. Horrocks' works have also appeared in journals, such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, and One Story. She also currently serves as the fiction editor of The Kenyon Review while crafting a novel and a second story collection.

Below is a full list of upcoming Grand Valley Writers Series events. All presentations are free and open to the public.

Amorak Huey and Caitlin Horrocks
Tuesday, January 31, Allendale Campus
Reading and book signing: 6-8 p.m., Cook-DeWitt Center

Vievee Francis and Matthew Olzmann
Monday, February 27, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
Craft talk: 6-7 p.m., DeVos Center, room 203E
Reading and book signing: 7:30-8:50 p.m., DeVos Center University Club

A Conversation and Reading with Bich Minh Nguyen
Thursday, March 23, Allendale Campus
Reading and book signing: 4-5:15 p.m., Kirkhof Center, room 0072

Austin Bunn
Thursday, April 13, Allendale Campus
Craft talk: 4-5:15 p.m., Kirkhof Center, room 2215/16
Reading and book signing: 6-7:30 p.m., Cook-DeWitt Center

For more information, contact Todd Kaneko at (616) 331-8064 or [email protected], or visit the Grand Valley Writers Series website.