The PLNU M.A. in Writing Program presents the 2nd Annual M.A. in Writing Visiting Writers Series with featured readings by Taylor Byas (Poetry Day), Anna Gazmarian, Kiersten White, and Matt Bell.
2024 READING SCHEDULE
September 25 - Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D. (PLNU Poetry Day)
October 2 - Anna Gazmarian
October 16 - Kiersten White
November 13 - Matt Bell (PLNU Honors Program)
EVENT PARTNERS
Special thanks to our event partners who make this series possible: La Playa Books, PLNU Department of Literature, Journalism, Writing, and Languages, PLNU Honors Program, and PLNU Writer's Symposium by the Sea.
Keep scrolling for more information on this year's writers.
26th Annual Poetry Day: Taylor Byas, Sept 25
Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D. (she/her) is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is a Features Editor for The Rumpus, a Poetry Acquisitions Editor for Variant Literature, an Editorial Board Member for Beloit Poetry Journal, and an Editorial Advisor for Jackleg Press. She is the author of two chapbooks, her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times, from Soft Skull Press, which won the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award and the 2023 Chicago Review of Books Award in Poetry, and Resting Bitch Face, forthcoming in Fall of 2025. She is also a co-editor of The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vol X: Alabama from Texas Review Press, and of Poemhood: Our Black Revival, a YA anthology on Black folklore from HarperCollins.
Event hosted by the Department of Literature, Journalism, Writing, and Languages
Anna Gazmarian, Oct 2
Anna Gazmarian, author of Devout: A Memoir of Doubt, holds an MFA in creative writing from the Bennington Writing Seminars. Her essays have been published in The Rumpus, Longreads, The Sun, and The Guardian. Anna works for The Sun Magazine and lives with her family in Durham, North Carolina.
Kiersten White, Oct 16
Kiersten White is the #1 New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning, and critically acclaimed author of many books for readers of all ages, including the And I Darken trilogy, the Sinister Summer series, the Camelot Rising trilogy, Star Wars: Padawan, Hide, Mister Magic, and Lucy Undying. Her books have been published in over twenty territories, and her novel Hide is currently in development with Universal Television and Peacock.
Matt Bell, Nov 13
Matt Bell is the author most recently of the novel Appleseed (a New York Times Notable Book) and the craft book Refuse to Be Done, a guide to novel writing, rewriting, and revision. He is also the author of the novels Scrapper and In the House upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods, as well as the short story collection A Tree or a Person or a Wall, a non-fiction book about the classic video game Baldur's Gate II, and several other titles. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Tin House, Fairy Tale Review, American Short Fiction, Orion, and many other publications. A native of Michigan, he teaches creative writing at Arizona State University.
Event hosted by the PLNU Honors Program