Two accomplished writers to read from their works in Frostic Series

KALAMAZOO—Two acclaimed authors will read from their selected works this month as part of the spring 2013 Frostic Reading Series.

Jaswinder Bolina and Mandy Keifetz will read at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in 208-209 Bernhard Center. The reading is free and open to the public.

Jaswinder Bolina

Bolina, a poet and essayist, was born in Chicago in 1978. His first book, "Carrier Wave," was awarded the 2006 Colorado Prize for Poetry and published by the Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University. His second book, "Phantom Camera," was awarded the 2012 Green Rose Prize in Poetry by the WMU New Issues Press and will be published this spring. His recent work has appeared widely in literary journals and in "The Best American Poetry 2011."

Bolina earned a bachelor's in philosophy from Loyola University Chicago in 2000, a master's in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2003 and a doctoral degree in English from Ohio University in 2010. He has taught creative writing, literature and composition for more than 10 years at the University of Michigan, Ohio University and in the Master of Fine Arts program at Columbia College Chicago, where he served as the 2010-11 emerging poet-in-residence. He currently is assistant professor of creative writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.

Mandy Keifetz

Keifetz is a self-professed finishing school dropout, who went on to distinguish herself through a variety of literary projects. Her work has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Penthouse, Vogue, the Review of Contemporary Fiction and many more. Entertainment Weekly called her first novel, "Corrido," "an intoxicating cocktail of sex and death." Her second novel, "Flea Circus: A Brief Bestiary of Grief," won the AWP Fiction Prize in 2010, selected by American writer Francine Prose, and was published by New Issues. The novel was a finalist in the 2011 Grub Street National Book Prize and was awarded honorable mention.

Keifetz was a fellow with the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2002, and her plays have been staged in London, Cambridge, Montréal, Oslo and New York. She is an occasional Master of Fine Arts dissertation defense panelist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a jurist for the Scholastic Achievement Awards.

Frostic Reading Series

The Gwen Frostic Reading Series presents acclaimed creative writers from across the nation and beyond. Every year, a diverse range of readings that encompasses poetry, fiction, nonfiction and drama attract both campus and off-campus audiences.

For more information, visit wmich.edu/english/events/frostic.html.