Writing Announces VCFA READS Book Pick for Winter Residency
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (Penguin, 2018) is a new collection of poems by National Book Award winner and MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellow Terrance Hayes.
Composed during the first 200 days of the Trump presidency and released on June 19th, American Sonnets has been dubbed by the LA Times as “the right poetry collection for right now.” Students and faculty are encouraged to read the book and engage in a series of book-related activities during the winter residency (Dec. 29 – Jan. 8). Hayes will be on campus as Visiting Writer in Poetry, which will further energize and deepen the VCFA READS experience.
The Writing Program initiated VCFA READS in the winter of 2016. Selections have included Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, and Signs Preceding the End of the World by Mexican novelist Yuri Herrera in its award-winning translation. On-campus events have included discussion groups, choreographed performative readings by volunteer student troupes, and Skype conversations with Maggie Nelson and Yuri Herrera.
Terrance Hayes is a teacher and student of poetry. His most recent publication, To Float In The Space Between: Drawings and Essays in Conversation with Etheridge Knight (Wave), was released in September. Learn more about him at terrancehayes.com/about/. Details about his VCFA appearance will be announced soon.