WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY TO HOST WRITER’S CONFERENCE

Award-winning authors Chang rae-Lee, a novelist, and Kimiko Hahn, a poet, will be the featured speakers at William Paterson University’s annual Spring Writer’s Conference on Friday, April 5.

The event will be held from 12:30 to 9 p.m. in the Science Building and is co-sponsored by the University’s English Department and Friends of the Library. Exploring the theme "Politics and Literature," the conference will feature morning and afternoon writing workshops on the topics of poetry, fiction, critical writing, children’s literature, and creative non-fiction. The conference fee is $30 for a full day of participation and $20 for a half-day. For a cost of $15, participants can attend the evening reading by Chang rae-Lee which begins at 7:30 in the Cheng Library Auditorium.

Lee, born in Korea, is the author of two award-winning novels, "Native Speaker" and "A Gesture Life." "Native Speaker" received more than eight honors and prizes, including the PEN/Hemingway Award, the American Book Award, and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, and was named one of the Year’s Best Books in 1995 by Time magazine. He serves as director of the master of fine arts program at Hunter College of CUNY, where he teaches writing workshops and seminars in literature and is currently researching a third novel. Lee is a resident of Ridgewood.

Hahn is the author of six collections of poetry, including, "The Artist’s Daughter" (forthcoming), "Volatile," "The Unbearable Heart," which received an American Book Award, and "Earshot," which received the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize and an Association of Asian American Studies Literature Award.

She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund.

In 1995, Hahn wrote ten portraits of women for the MTV special, "Ain’t Nuthin’ but a She-Thing," for which she also recorded the voice-overs. A professor in the English Department at Queens College of CUNY, Hahn is currently working on a collection of poetry and prose, utilizing the classical Japanese forms tanka and zuihitsu. She lives in Brooklyn.

William Paterson’s distinguished faculty will lead the morning and afternoon workshops. Participants include: Philip Cioffari, a professor of English and a playwright with two plays that have been produced at the American Theater of Actors in New York City; Elizabeth Birge, a former metro reporter for the Chicago Tribune and an assistant professor of journalism at William Paterson; Rachel Wetzsteon, the author of two books of poems and a teacher of creative writing at William Paterson; Lisa Makman, who has published essays on children’s writers; Amy Holman, co-founder of The Publishing Seminars at Poets & Writers, Inc. and associate editor of "Get Your First Book Published" from Career Press; and Steve Newton, director of the Writing Center at William Paterson.

For additional information or to register, call Dr. John Parras, English Department, William Paterson University, 973-720-3067, or e-mail parrasj@wpunj.edu.

3/12/02
For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966