Press Releases

September 17, 2001
"Writers Talk" Lecture Series Opens with Local Filmmaker Heather Buchanan

Contact:
Patricia Conway
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

Southampton College opens its "Writers Talk" series of literary lectures with Sag Harbor filmmaker and freelance writer Heather Buchanan on Tuesday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m. in the Business Center Lecture Hall. Following Buchanan will be 2001 American Book Award recipient Elizabeth Nunez on October 16.

Buchanan produced her first non-union film, "Victimless Crimes" in Chicago, then went on to make "Live Nude Girls," a comedy that garnered critical and rental success. Her most recent film, "On the Rocks," a comedy filmed on location in the Hamptons, focuses on two women who overcome personal and professional disappointment with coffee, cocktails, and a cable television show.

Nunez is a Distinguished Professor of English at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York. She is the author of four novels: "Discretion" (Ballantine, Feb. 2002); "Bruised Hibiscus" (Ballantine & Seal Press, 2000), which won an American Book Award in 2001; "Beyond the Limbo Silence" (Seal Press 1998), which won a 1999 IPPY (Independent Publishers) Award in the multicultural fiction category; and "When Rocks Dance" (Putnam, 1986 and Ballantine, 1992). Nunez is co-editor of a collection of essays "Defining Ourselves: Black Writers in the 90s" and has served as the director of the National Black Writers Conference, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, since 1986.

The remaining Southampton College Fall 2001 "Writer's Talk" Lecture Series is as follows:

Oct. 23: Christopher Noel, writer

Noel teaches at Skidmore College. His first novel, "Hazard and the Five Delights" (Knopf) was followed by a memoir, "In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing: A Geography of Grief" (Times/Random House). His most recent book is "The Tomb of the Sea Monkeys."

Oct. 30: Jim Daniels, poet

Daniels is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Carnegie-Mellon University. His first two poetry collections, "Places/Everyone" and "Punching Out" are set in Detroit neighborhoods and factories. His third book, "M-80," centers on urban violence and its aftereffects, while his recent books, "Niagara Falls," "Blessing this House," and "Blue Jesus" present issues of faith. Daniels has edited "American Poetry: The Next Generation" (CMU Press) and his first collection of short stories, "No Pets," was made into a feature film by director Tony Bubba. His next book, "City Pool," will be out from New Issues Press in 2002. This lecture is co-sponsored by the Honors Program.

Nov. 6: Jill Ciment, writer

Ciment was born in Canada and has written and taught for the past 15 years in New York. Her most recent book is "The Life and Art of Sara Ehrenreich." Ciment has received critical acclaim for her works including her novel, "Teeth of the Dog" and a memoir, "Half a Life." Her first novel was "The Law of Falling Bodies," and she published a book of short stories entitled "Small Claims," which was made into a film and shown on PBS.

Nov. 13: Victoria Redel, writer

Redel received her MFA from Columbia University, and has been a fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She has produced a volume of short stories, "Where the Road Bottoms Out," and a collection of poems called "Already the World" (Kent State University Press) She received an NEA grant for poetry, and most recently awarded the 2000 S. Mariella Gable Prize from Graywolf Press for her novel "Loverboy."

Nov. 20: Lisa Jarnot, poet

Jarnot was born in 1967 in Buffalo, New York and attended the State University of New York at Buffalo and Brown University. She edited two small poetry magazines: "No Trees" and "Troubled Surfer," and has published four books of poetry: "The Fall of Orpheus," "Sea Lyrics," "Some Other Kind of Mission," and "Ring of Fire." She is currently working on a biography of poet Robert Duncan. She has taught at the Naropa Institute and Bard College.

Nov. 27: Michael O'Brien, poet

O'Brien has produced nine volumes of poetry, including "Sills: Selected Poems of Michael O'Brien" (Zoland Books), and "At Schoodic: Poems and Drawings" (with Joan Farber, Cairn Editions.) He has been a Senior Fellow at Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, at the Camargo Foundation, the Karolyi Foundation and at the Djerassi Foundation. He received his MA from Columbia University, and has taught at Hunter and Brooklyn Colleges.

 

All talks and readings of the Southampton College Masters of Fine Arts Program are free and open to the public. The lectures will take place on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 pm in the Business Center Lecture Hall. Call (631) 287-8107 for more information.