UK Happenings

Renowned Authors to Speak During Virtual Visiting Writers Series

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 22, 2021) Two notable authors will be featured during the Visiting Writers Series (VWS), hosted by the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. But this year you won’t have to leave your house to see them.

The virtual program will kick off March 25 with award-winning writer, organizer and performer Madeline Ffitch.

The VWS began in the spring of 2014 with a reading by poet Roger Reeves. Each year, the Department of English continues to bring nationally renowned authors to UK. "This series is a source of inspiration and excitement for our students, faculty and staff and continues to add to the overall vibrant literary culture of Lexington,” Crystal Wilkinson, associate professor of English, said.

You can find a full schedule of 2021 VWS events listed below.

An Evening with Madeline Ffitch: 7 p.m. March 25, Zoom registration

Ffitch writes and organizes in Appalachian Ohio. She was a founding member of the Punk Theater Company and The Missoula Oblongata. An accomplished author, Ffitch wrote the story collection “Valparaiso, Round the Horn.” She also wrote “Stay and Fight" from publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Ffitch has been awarded residencies at Yaddo and at the MacDowell Colony.

This event is sponsored by the Gaines Center for the Humanities.

An Evening with Li-Young Lee: 7 p.m. April 8, Zoom registration

Influenced by the classical Chinese poets Li Bo and Tu Fu, Lee’s work is noted for its use of silence. He is the author of five books of poetry, including his newest collection, “The Undressing.” Lee’s earlier collections include, “Behind My Eyes,” “Book of My Nights,” “Rose,” “The City in Which I Love You,” and a memoir titled “The Winged Seed: A Remembrance,” which received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Lee’s honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Lannan Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, as well as grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

This event is sponsored by the Gaines Center for the Humanities and the UK Confucius Institute. This event was funded prior to the closing of the institute.

The Visiting Writers Series is free and open to the public.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.