Literati Reading Programs

by Accomplished Authors
Free and Open to the Public

This free series is hosted in partnership by the Binghamton Center for Writers at Binghamton University and The Broome County ArtsCouncil. Further support is given by The University Research Foundation, the Creative Writing Program, Office of the Dean of Harpur College and the English Department.

For information email: Jennifer Degregorio or James Mcdermott

2019 Programs

Thursday, November 15, 2019

7:00pm – 9:00pm Artisan Gallery

95 Court Street, Binghamton

Kem Joy Ukwu is the author of the short story collection Locked Gray / Linked Blue, which was selected as a finalist for the 2016 New American Fiction Prize and was published by the Kindred Books Imprint of Brain Mill Press. Kem’s fiction has appeared in PANK, Jabberwock Review, Carve, The Brooklyn Quarterly, Auburn Avenue, TINGE, Blackberry: a Magazine, Blue Lake Review, and Day One. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and her master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. Born and raised in the Bronx, she lives in New Jersey with her husband.

Shin Watanabe was born in Gainesville, Florida and has lived in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Nevada. He studied philosophy at the University of Minnesota and received an MFA in poetry at the University of Las Vegas. Shin is currently a Ph.D. student in English at Binghamton University, where he is working on a creative dissertation in poetry.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

7:00pm – 9:00pm Artisan Gallery

95 Court Street, Binghamton

T Kira Madden is the author of the memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls (2019, Bloomsbury). She is a lesbian APIA writer, photographer, and amateur magician living in New York City. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College and a BA in design and literature from Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College. She is the founding Editor-in-chief of No Tokens, a magazine of literature and art, and is a 2017 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in nonfiction literature from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has received fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Hedgebrook, Tin House, DISQUIET, Summer Literary Seminars, and Yaddo, where she was selected for the 2017 Linda Collins Endowed Residency Award. She facilitates writing workshops for homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals and currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Mark Fabiano’s fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Saturday Evening Post, Confrontations, Westerly, The Green Hills Literary Lantern, The Long Story and others. His novel was a finalist in contests including Black Lawrence Press and others. He was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in Fiction and a month-long residency at Soaring Gardens Artist Retreat. He is pursuing his Ph.D. in English at SUNY-Binghamton. He has an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from George Mason University and served in the United States Peace Corps in Sri Lanka. He has taught creative writing, literature, and other courses at various colleges for over 11 years.

Friday, September 13, 2019

7:00pm – 9:00pm Artisan Gallery

95 Court Street, Binghamton

Claudia Cortese is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Her debut full-length collection, Wasp Queen (Black Lawrence Press, 2017), won Southern Illinois University’s Devil’s Kitchen Award for Emerging Poetry. Her work has appeared in Blackbird, Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse, Gulf Coast Online, and The Offing, among others, and she writes reviews for Muzzle Magazine, and is an associate editor forTupelo Quarterly. Cortese is a recipient of the 2018 OUTstanding faculty ally of the year certificate from the LGBTQ+ Center at Montclair State University. The daughter of Neapolitan immigrants, Cortese grew up in Ohio and lives in New Jersey.

Amy Suzanne Parker is a PhD student in Binghamton University’s English program, specializing in creative writing, with a concentration in creative nonfiction. She studied history and English at Florida State University and graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Oregon University.  Her work has appeared in Entropy, Punchnel’s, Witch Craft Magazine, Oregon East, The Mighty, and Burrow Press’s “Fantastic Floridas” and their anthology, We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida.  Her current project focuses on autobiographical memory, Florida’s weather, and the history of psychiatry. Originally from the Tampa Bay area, she loves a good storm.

Student Benefits – Participation

The program gives students a chance to listen to and engage with established authors, as well as Binghamton University graduate students, who may serve as mentors to the community through other Binghamton University programs, such as the free poetry workshops offered by the Binghamton Poetry Project at the Broome County Public Library and Endicott High School. The free public reading allows students to listen to literature from the authors themselves. The following discussion allows students to ask questions about the content and craft of literature as well as the author’s inspiration, practices, and experiences writing. Students can also benefit from integrating a live reading into their experience of reading a novel or studying a poet in school. This is one way to incorporate the event into your classroom experience. Students may write reviews, reflections, or reports about the event. Students may even cover the event for their school paper or host the event at the end of an extra curricular book club. It is also a good opportunity for students and their families to experience literature together, as the Literati Readings are all free and open to the public.

For information on how to incorporate the Literati Reading Series in academic curriculums email: Binghamton Poetry Project.