Carthage hosts acclaimed writers from across the country in its Visiting Writers Series. Curated by Writer in Residence Richard Meier, in recent semesters the series has welcomed more than a dozen great fiction writers and poets, including Anne Waldman, Danielle Evans, David Trinidad, Kate Greenstreet, Duriel Harris, Padma Viswanathan, Geoffrey Brock, Lisa Fishman, Julie Carr, Jared Stanley, and Catherine Theis.
The Visiting Writers Series is sponsored by the English Department, the Division of Arts and Humanities, and Arts at Carthage. For more information, please contact Professor Rick Meier at rmeier@carthage.edu.
Spring 2024
Tuesday, March 19: Joel Craig and Jose-Luis Moctezuma
6 p.m., Niemann Media Theater
Chicago-based poet Joel Craig is the author of “Humanoid” (Green Lantern, 2021) and “The White House” (Green Lantern, 2012). His poems can be found in A Public Space, Typo, Boston Review, Iowa Review, and Fence, among others. He was a contributing artist for Ekphest: A Festival of Words and Art and a collaborating artist for the Lit & Luz festival, where he now serves as artistic associate. He’s worked variously as an electronic music DJ, graphic designer, and content strategist; co-founded and hosted the Danny’s Reading Series from 2001-2015, and serves as poetry editor for MAKE literary magazine. Currently, he is cultivating a series of performances inspired by collective generation of new art forms from personal, family, and community histories through unlikely materials.
Jose-Luis Moctezuma is a xicano poet based in Chicago. He is the author of a chapbook, “Spring Tlaloc Seance” (Projective Industries, 2016), and two poetry books, “Place-Discipline” (Omnidawn, 2018) and “Black Box Syndrome” (Omnidawn, 2023). His poetry and literary criticism have most recently appeared in Spoon River Poetry Review, Tyger Quarterly, Peripheries, Postmodern Culture, Fence, Jacket2, Chicago Review, Modernism/modernity, and elsewhere. He lives and teaches in Chicago.
Tuesday, April 9: Ryan Skrabalak and Alicia Wright
6 p.m., Niemann Media Theater
Ryan Skrabalak wrote “The Technicolor Sycamore 10,000 Afternoon Family Earth Band Revue” (Ursus Americanus, 2024), “The Orchids” (above/ground press, 2024) and other books. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas, where he edits the poetry press and record label Spiral Editions. He also organizes for AFT Local 6403, instructs at the University of Kansas, and deejays on community radio.
Alicia Wright’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in the Paris Review, Kenyon Review, West Branch, and jubilat, among others. She has received fellowships from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Denver, where she is a Ph.D. candidate in English and Literary Arts. She is the editor of Annulet and the forthcoming Annulet Editions, and lives in Iowa City, where she hosts the occasional poetry reading series Normie Creep in the Sacred Grove.
See videos of past visiting writers
