Friday, January 6, 7pm – Poetry
Abeer Hoque, Alex Kudera, Don Riggs
Abeer Hoque is a Nigerian born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer with BS and MA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco. She is the recipient of a 2005 Tanenbaum Award, a 2007 Fulbright Scholarship, and a 2012 NEA Literature Fellowship, and she has attended residencies at Saltonstall, VCCA, Millay, and Albee. Her writing and photography has been published in ZYZZYVA, XConnect, Nerve.com, Farafina (Nigeria), India Today, the Daily Star (Bangladesh), 580 Split, Wasafiri (England), and KQED Writers Block among others. She likes looking at gargoyles, eating at King’s Wok, and watching you dance. Philadelphia was her first home in America. See more at olivewitch.com.
Alex Kudera received his M.A. in fiction in 1998. His debut novel, Fight for Your Long Day, won the 2011 Independent Publisher’s Gold Medal for Best Fiction from the Mid-Atlantic Region. It is an original academic tragicomedy told consistently from the perspective of the adjunct instructor, and reviews and interviews can be found online at Inside Higher Ed, Academe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and other locations. Many of Kudera’s stories survive in slush piles across the continent or huddled together in unheated North Philly storage space, but The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity is available as a 99-cent single wherever e-books are downloaded. Alex currently teaches writing and literature at Clemson University in South Carolina.
Don Riggs received his M.A. in poetry in 1997, after already having completed a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from University of North Carolina. He has published several articles in the Journal for the Fantastic in the Arts, and is actively engaged in research and teaching in Science Fiction literature. His poetry has appeared in many publications, including 16th Century Journal, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Painted Bride Quarterly, xib and ixnay. He is the Co-Editor of and featured poet in the book Uncommonplaces: Poems of the Fantastic. He is the Editor of Lamont B. Steptoe’s A Long Movie of Shadows and translated Chinese Poetic Writing by Francois Cheng. At Drexel, Dr. Riggs teaches several courses for the Department of English and Philosophy, including Science Fiction Literature, Philosophy in Literature, Renaissance and Enlightenment Literature, Creative Writing, Visions in Writing, and Freshman Writing.
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