GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.—The Poetry & Fiction Series at Bard College at Simon's Rock returns to campus this spring and is open to the public, beginning on March 7.

 

The Writers at the Rock: Poetry & Fiction Series readings will take place in-person on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in Blodgett House on the campus of Simon's Rock. All readings are free and open to the public. The first reading in the series will take place on Thursday, March 7 with author Tiana Clark. 

 

"We've had Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award winners, Guggenheim Fellows, MacArthur genius grant winners, and rising literary stars whose work just continues to find new readers around the world. And this doesn't happen in a big auditorium—the readings take place in the Blodgett House living room, where we can have real conversations with the writers. The students always ask great questions, and the writers often tell me that they're blown away by how deeply engaged the students are with the writers' work," said Dean of Faculty and Curriculum Development and Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Literature Brendan Mathews, who is a coordinator for the Poetry & Fiction Series. Authors in the 2024 Poetry & Fiction Series include Tiana Clark, Alexis Schaitkin, Ama Codjoe, and Paul Yoon.

 

For more information about the Poetry & Fiction Series, visit the Simon's Rock Events Calendar.

 

Tiana Clark: March 7

Tiana Clark is the author of "I Can't Talk About the Trees Without the Blood," winner of the Agnes Lynch Starret Prize. She has received the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, an NEA Literature Fellowship, the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship, and a Pushcart Prize.

 

Alexis Schaitkin: March 28

Alexis Schaitkin is the author of the novel "Elsewhere," named a New York Times Editors' Choice, and ALA Notable Book, and longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize. Her previous novel "Saint X" was a New York Times Notable Book and was adapted into a limited series for Hulu.

 

Ama Codjoe: April 4

Ama Codjoe is the author of "Bluest Nude," winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and finalist for both the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry and the Paterson Poetry Prize. She has received an NEA Literature Fellowship and a Whiting Award. 

 

Paul Yoon: April 18

Paul Yoon is the author of five works of fiction, most recently "The Hive and the Honey," a finalist for the 2024 Story Prize. He is the recipient of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

 

For over thirty years, the Poetry & Fiction Series has hosted prominent and upcoming poets and fiction writers, including Seamus Heaney, Annie Prolux, Derek Walcott, John Edgar Wideman, Susan Sontag, Rita Dove, and many more. Open to the community, the readings are preceded by a conversation with Simon's Rock students and followed by a Q&A with the attending audience. Coordinated by Brendan Matthews, the series consists of four readings over the course of the spring semester.