04 Feb 2018 Writer Maggie Smith to visit UCA Feb. 13-14
by Jennifer Buckley
College of Fine Arts and
Communication Media Office
Award-winning writer Maggie Smith will visit the University of Central Arkansas as artist-in-residence Tuesday, Feb. 13, and Wednesday, Feb. 14.
The residency will include a free public reading followed by a Q&A and book signing in the College of Business auditorium 107 at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13.
Smith has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council and The Sustainable Arts Foundation.
Her poem “Good Bones,” labeled “the official poem of 2016” by Public Radio International, went viral internationally in 2016. Smith’s books include “The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison” and “Lamp of the Body.”
Smith is also the author of several award-winning chapbooks.
"Maggie Smith writes about the timely issues of our day in a finely-tuned voice,” said Sandy Longhorn, assistant professor of Creative Writing and faculty sponsor for the residency. “Her themes speak to the larger climate of fear that has crept into our worldview and how we might combat that fear for a better future."
Smith works as a freelance writer and editor and is also a consulting editor for the “Kenyon Review.” She previously taught Creative Writing at the college level. She also worked as an assistant editor for a children’s trade book publisher.
Her works have appeared in The New York Times, “Best American Poetry,” “Tin House,” “The Believer” and “The Paris Review,” among other publications.
"In addition to her stellar work as a poet, Smith offers valuable insights into supporting her literary work as a freelance writer and editor,” Longhorn said. “Her connection work for the ‘Kenyon Review,’ one of the top literary magazines in the nation, will also offer the UCA community an insider’s view into this level of publishing."
Other residency activities include a masterclass with graduate students at 4 p.m. Feb. 13 in Win Thompson Hall 331 and a craft talk and Q&A at 11 a.m. Feb. 14, also in Thompson 331.
For more information about the residency, contact Longhorn at 501.450.5108 or [email protected].
The Artist in Residence program is funded by UCA’s arts fee and is administered by the College of Fine Arts and Communication. For more information about the program, call the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication, at 501.450.3293 or email [email protected].
