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Writers' SeriesThe Otterbein Writers' Series brings poets and writers to campus for readings and workshops. Its purpose is to provide students and faculty, and also area residents, with chances to meet contemporary writers and to hear literary works performed. Otterbein is a member of the Ohio Poetry Circuit, a consortium of nine Ohio colleges that cooperate to bring nationally known poets to Ohio. Recent circuit poets have included the current and previous U.S. poet laureates, Billy Collins and Robert Pinsky, as well as many renowned poets such as William Stafford, Mary Oliver, Stephen Dunn and Yosef Komunyakaa. In recent years, the Writers' Series has been assisted by grants from the Perceval Fund of the Columbus Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council in expanding events to include a week-long festival of readings and workshops about writing and the teaching of writing. Past festivals have explored themes such as Writing and Social Change and Writers and Community. The Writers' Series has also initiated participation by graduates of the Otterbein English program. These writers have included fiction writer Michael Olin-Hitt (class of 1986) and John Deever (class of 1990), author of Singing on the Heavy Side of the World: A Peace Corps Ukraine Story. Below is a partial list of participants in the Otterbein Writers' Series since its inception in 1980: Nick Carbo, Paul Zimmer, Collette Inez, Mary Oliver, Michael Ryan, William Stafford, Alberta Turner, Betty Adcock, Dick Allen, Stephen Dunn, Arthur Smith, Rodney Jones, Mary Swander, Eamon Grennan, Elizabeth Spires, Annabel Thomas, Larry Levis, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Yusef Komunyakaa, Linda Bierds, Scott Sanders, Gerald Stern, David St. John, Doug Swift, Carolyn See, Patti Ann Rogers, Steve Orlen, Susan Mitchell, Diane Kendig, Michael Martone, Amy Clampitt, Jim Wayne Miller, James Perkins, Albert Goldbarth, Brenda Hillman, Jim Barnes, William Alexander, Helen Frost, Candyce Barnes, Terry Hermsen, Carol Muske, Charles Frederick, Ellen Bryant Voight, Jeff Gundy, John McCluskey, P.J. Corso, Susan Orlean, Lynne McMahon, Lynna Williams, Hillary Masters, Billy Collins, David Wagoner, Molly Bendall, Robert Demott, Jerry Roscoe, Judith Hall, Angie Estes, Denise Duhamel, Herbert Martin, Peter Cooley, David Baker, David Lazar, and John Koethe. See What’s Happening? The director of the Otterbein Writers' Series is Dr. Jim Gorman, professor of English (JGorman@otterbein.edu or 614-823-1133).
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