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Paula Nagle and John Rybicki close Frostic Readings

April 10, 2008

KALAMAZOO--Readings by novelist Paula Nangle and poet and essayist John Rybicki conclude the spring Gwen Frostic Reading Series at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in the Little Theatre at Western Michigan University. All readings in the series are open to the public free of charge.

Paula Nangle was raised by missionaries in the United States and southern Africa and now lives in Benton Harbor, Mich., where she is a psychiatric nurse. Her first novel, "The Leper Compound," was published by Bellevue Literary Press earlier this year. She has published fiction in Michigan Quarterly Review, Blue Mesa Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Glimmer Train, among others.

"Paula Nangle writes prose that in its elegant yet raw intensity reminds me of the poetry of Sylvia Plath," says Stuart Dybek. "'The Leper Compound' will impress itself on the mind and remain with the reader long after the book has been closed."

John Rybicki teaches creative writing to inner-city children in his hometown of Detroit and serves as a guest lecturer at schools across the country. His poems and stories have appeared in North American Review, Field, Bomb, Alaska Quarterly Review, Ohio Review, Poetry East, and The Quarterly, as well as in numerous anthologies.

His first book of poems, "Traveling at High Speeds," was published by WMU's New Issues Poetry Press in 1996, followed by "Fire Psalm" and "Yellow-Haired Girl with Spider" (March Street Press) in 2002. His newest collection, "We Bed Down Into Water," was published by Northwestern University Press earlier this year.

Spring 2008 Frostic Reading Series

Monday, Feb. 18, poet Carl Phillips
Thursday, Feb. 21, poets David Keplinger and Heather Sellers
Monday, Feb. 25, playwright Lisa Kron at Epic Center Theatre*
Monday, March 17, novelist Kellie Wells
Thursday, April 17, novelist Paula Nangle and poet and essayist John Rybicki

*Due to a schedule conflict, the date and location of Lisa Kron's reading was changed to Monday, Feb. 25, at the Epic Center Theatre, 359 S.Kalamazoo Mall.

All other readings are at 8 p.m. in the Little Theatre, which is located at the corner of Oakland Drive and Oliver Street on Western Michigan University's East Campus. There is free off-street parking behind the theatre.

For more information about the Gwen Frostic Reading Series, contact Elizabeth Marzoni at elizabeth.s.marzoni@wmich.edu. To be added to the mailing list for reading series announcements, write to Becky Beech at rebecca.beech@wmich.edu and include your complete name and postal address.

Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

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