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Published August 20, 2008
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SMC Fall Reading Series Kicks Off with Katharine Noel Author of The Halfway House
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| By Andrea A. Firth |
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| Author Katharine Noel
Photo Saeed Mirfattah |
Saint Mary’s College (SMC) will launch their Fall Creative Writing Reading Series on the evening of September 3rd with novelist Katharine Noel. Her debut novel, The Halfway House, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and received several awards for its contribution to fiction writing and to a better understanding of mental illness.
The Halfway House follows the path of a young woman who experiences a psychotic break and is eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder as she and her family struggle to deal with her mental illness. “It really is a book about the whole family and how a crisis manifests,” explains Noel. “The family already had cracks, and this particular pressure worked on those weaknesses. That’s what make sit interesting to me.”
Noel spent two years working at a residential psychiatric treatment program that was set on a farm in the Berkshire Mountains. “I really fell in love with the Farm and with work that they were doing,” states Noel. “The Farm was the place where I began thinking about the identity issues raised with mental illness,” she adds. Although she considered a career in public health, writing became her main focus, and she ultimately incorporated her experiences into her art.
Noel, who is a regular lecturer in the English Department at Stanford, will also serve as a writer-in-residence throughout the Fall at SMC where she will teach the graduate fiction workshop. “I am looking forward to my time at Saint Mary’s. The campus is very beautiful. And, I understand that a there is seriousness to the students. We’ll be meeting regularly to discuss their work.”
The M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program at SMC has been offered for a decade. Forty-five students across the three genres of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are accepted into the program each year. “There is a diversity to our student population,” notes Graham Foust, Associate Professor at SMC and Director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program. “We have students who apply directly from undergraduate programs, some that come after working for a few years, and others who are in their 30’ and 40’s. There are many in the middle range who come from other disciplines,” he adds.
Organized by the Department of English and the M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program at Saint Mary’s, the series will include six readings by published authors and poets along with an evening of graduate student readings. (See schedule below.) The readings are open to the public and typically run about 45 minutes followed by a 15-minute question and answer session.
“I enjoy the fact that we can offer the community access to these well-known, established writers,” states Foust. “It’s almost like having a reading and book signing in your backyard.”
The Creative Writing Reading Series is held on selected Wednesday evenings at 7:30 in the Soda Activity Center.
September 3 Katharine Noel (fiction) September 10 Tom Pickard (poetry) September 24 Dan White (nonfiction) October 1 Ashley Capps (poetry) October 8 Peter Orner (fiction) November 12 Brenda Miller (nonfiction) |
September 3 Katharine Noel (fiction)
September 10 Tom Pickard (poetry)
September 24 Dan White (nonfiction)
October 1 Ashley Capps (poetry)
October 8 Peter Orner (fiction)
November 12 Brenda Miller (nonfiction) |
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| Reach Andrea A. Firth at: andrea@lamorindaweekly.com |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA