Fiction novelists, poet to be featured for Visiting Writers Series

Northwest Missouri State University’s 2024-25 Visiting Writers Series begins this fall with virtual and in-person events that will feature authors of fiction and poetry.

All events are free and open to the public.

“As Enlightenment thinkers have argued, each of us occupies only a single place on our globe,” Daniel Biegelson, the series director and a senior instructor of English, said. “In this sense, stories, poems and literature expand our horizons, allowing us to enter other lives, experiences, and worlds. When we spend time with an author at a reading, we come together as a community — to listen, be challenged and be transported.”

Fiction author Jedidiah Berry will host a virtual session at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, as part of the University’s Visiting Writers Series. The session will be accessible on Zoom by clicking this link.

Berry, an editor for Ninepin Press, an independent publisher of novels and stories in unusual formats based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, is the author of “The Manual of Detection,” a mystery novel, and “The Family Arcana,” a story collection told through a deck of playing cards.

Then, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, in the J.W. Jones Student Union Living Room, James Brubaker, a novelist and author of short stories, will visit the campus with writer and poet Michael Chang.

Brubaker is the author of novels, including “We are Ghost-Lit,” “The Taxidermist’s Catalog,” “Black Magic Death Sphere: (Science) Fictions,” “Liner Notes” and “Pilot Season.” His work has been featured in journals such as Puerto Del Sol, Diagram, Zoetrope: All Story, Indiana Review and Laurel Review. Additionally, Brubaker was the director for the Southeast Missouri State University Press, a founding associate editor for The Collapsar online literary magazine, and the music section editor of The Fiddleback, an online arts and literature magazine.

Chang, a Lambda Literary fellow, Kundiman scholar and editor at Fence magazine, is the author of poetry collections and chapbooks such as “Almanac of Useless Talents,” “Synthetic Jungle,” “Employees Must Wash Hands” and “Sweet Moss.”

The Visiting Writers Series is designed to enrich Northwest’s educational mission while promoting the values of community, civil discourse and self-expression. Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corporation, Green Tower Press and the Department of Language, Literature and Writing sponsor the series.

For more information about the Visiting Writers Series, contact Biegelson at dbiegel@nwmissouri.edu or 660.562.1266.