New Leaves, Spring 2018
This year’s New Leaves week, April 2-6, brings reading by visiting writers in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in addition to special events and talks on making your way in the world as a writer. Watch creativewriting.gmu.edu soon for full details on individual events.
MONDAY, APRIL 2
Shane McCrae (Visiting Writer, Poetry) & Madeleine Thien (Visiting Writer, Fiction)
7:30 p.m. • Merten Hall 1202
McCrae is the author of the collections Mule, Blood, The Animal Too Big to Kill, and most recently In the Language of My Captor, a finalist for the National Book Award.
Thien is a novelist and short story writer whose books include Certainty, Dogs at the Perimeter, and Do Not Say We Have Nothing, the latter short-listed for the Man Booker Prize among other honors.
TUESDAY, APRIL 3
Cutter Wood (Visiting Writer, Nonfiction)
7:30 p.m. • Research Hall, Room 163
Wood is the author of Love and Death in the Sunshine State: The Story of a Crime (forthcoming). His essays have been published in Harper’s and other magazines.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4
Loud Fire Reading
7:30 p.m. • George’s, 3rd Floor, Johnson Center
The graduate student reading series for George Mason's creative writing MFA program hosts current students sharing their fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
THURSDAY, APRIL 5
Life on the Line: Bullets into Bells
7:30 p.m. • Fenwick Library Reading Room
Brian Clements, co-editor of Bullets into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence, joins contributors to the anthology and members of the Mason creative writing community for a reading and discussion. This event is part of the “Life on the Line” series.
FRIDAY, APRIL 6
Literary Agent Howard Yoon
1 p.m. • English Department Conference Room, Robinson A, Room 447
Yoon, a principal with the DC-based RossYoon Agency, discusses various aspects of the author-agency relationship: how to find an agent, what an agent offers first-time writers, how agents can help shape a career. Following the group discussion, Yoon will meet individually with students and alums for short sessions responding to “pitches” of their work. No prior submissions are required before the sessions but appointments will be necessary. Contact Jay Patel at jpatel2@gmu.edu to reserve one of the 15-minute slots between 2 and 5.
Panel Discussion on Jobs Outside of Writing
2:30 p.m. • English Department Conference Room, Robinson A, Room 447
Philip Dean Walker, author of the story collections At Danceteria and Other Stories and Read by Strangers, and Zach Powers, author of the collection Gravity Changes, discuss work for writers beyond producing books—including discussion of day jobs, life's work versus paychecks, career flexibility, and finding independence in the workplace.
Query/Pitch Workshop
3:30 p.m. • English Department Conference Room, Robinson A, Room 447
Fall for the Book Spring Reading: Novelist Chloe Benjamin
7:30 p.m. • Grand Tier 3, Concert Hall
Benjamin, author of The Immortalists, inaugurates a new spring reading series hosted by the Fall for the Book festival. Admission for this one event is $10 for the general public but is free for Mason students with i.d. and Friends of Fall for the Book.
March 16, 2018
