Bernard Cooper, Scripps College’s spring 2009 Mary Routt Chair of Writing, will host an evening of readings: “How Weird Can It Get? Stories by Young American Writers,” on Monday, April 27, 2009, at 7:30 p.m., in Vita Nova Hall, Scripps College. The event is free and open to the public.
The evening’s featured writers are John Jodzio, Mary Otis, and Benjamin Weissman.
Author John Jodzio is a past winner of the Loft Mentor Series and a recipient of the Loft-McKnight Fellowship. His writing has appeared in One Story, The Florida Review, and a number of online journals, including McSweeney’s. Jodzio has won a Minnesotamagazine fiction prize and the Opium 500 Word Memoir competition. He was recently awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board grant to finish a collection of short stories, If You Lived Here, You’d Already Be Home.
Mary Otis is the author of Yes, Yes, Cherries, a collection of short stories. Her work has appeared in publications such as Best New American Voices 2004, Tin House, and the Los Angeles Times. Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America, says: “Mary Otis sees things from the odd angle, which is the literary one. It makes her stories true-to-life, funny, brave, and amazing.”
Benjamin Weissman, author of two story collections, Dear Dead Person, and Headless, runs The New American Voices Series at the Hammer Museum. Weissman is a visual artist who exhibits internationally. Lydia Davis, author of Almost No Memory, calls Weissman’s stories “bizarre, inventive, and surprising — they frolic in the murkier regions of our psyches and daily habits with skilled verbal turns and unflinching wit.”
Following the readings, the authors will answer questions about short-story writing. For more information, contact the Scripps College Writing Program at (909) 607-3250.