Short-story writer concludes Spring 2013 Raymond Carver Reading Series
Diane Williams, founding editor of NOON, will speak
The Spring 2013 Raymond Carver Reading Series concludes at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 24 with Diane Williams, award-winning, short-story teller and author of seven works of fiction, including Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty (McSweeney’s 2012).
The reading will take place in the Huntington Beard Crouse (HBC) Gifford Auditorium at Syracuse University and will be preceded by a question and answer session from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU’s paid lots.
Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty is a collection of 50, short stories—some shorter than a page—that the publisher says “hum with tension, each one so taut that it threatens to snap and send the whole thing sprawling—the mess and desire, the absurdity and hilarity, the bruises and bleeding, the blushes and disappointments and secrets.” Vanity Fair contends that these new stories “emit an unsettling brilliance, becoming, on repeated readings, even stranger and more revelatory.” The Boston Globe affirms “Vicky Swanky is Williams at her best, shaking us awake again to the persistent strangeness of human life.”
Williams is credited with having redefined the short story. Jonathan Franzen has called her “one of true living heroes of the American avant-garde.” She is the recipient of three Pushcart Prizes and the founding editor of the widely acclaimed literary annual NOON. She was the publisher and co-editor of StoryQuarterly from 1985 to 1997 and has taught at Bard College, Syracuse University, and The Center for Fiction in New York City.
Named for the great short story writer and poet who taught at SU in the 1980s, the Raymond Carver Reading Series is a vital part of Syracuse’s literary life. Presented by the Creative Writing Program in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, the series each year brings 12 to 14 prominent writers to campus to read their works and interact with students.
The reading will take place in the Huntington Beard Crouse (HBC) Gifford Auditorium at Syracuse University and will be preceded by a question and answer session from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU’s paid lots.
Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty is a collection of 50, short stories—some shorter than a page—that the publisher says “hum with tension, each one so taut that it threatens to snap and send the whole thing sprawling—the mess and desire, the absurdity and hilarity, the bruises and bleeding, the blushes and disappointments and secrets.” Vanity Fair contends that these new stories “emit an unsettling brilliance, becoming, on repeated readings, even stranger and more revelatory.” The Boston Globe affirms “Vicky Swanky is Williams at her best, shaking us awake again to the persistent strangeness of human life.”
Williams is credited with having redefined the short story. Jonathan Franzen has called her “one of true living heroes of the American avant-garde.” She is the recipient of three Pushcart Prizes and the founding editor of the widely acclaimed literary annual NOON. She was the publisher and co-editor of StoryQuarterly from 1985 to 1997 and has taught at Bard College, Syracuse University, and The Center for Fiction in New York City.
Named for the great short story writer and poet who taught at SU in the 1980s, the Raymond Carver Reading Series is a vital part of Syracuse’s literary life. Presented by the Creative Writing Program in SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, the series each year brings 12 to 14 prominent writers to campus to read their works and interact with students.
Media Contact
Judy Holmes