Frostic Reading Series caps spring season with three April events

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The Gwen Frostic Reading Series closes out its spring 2017 season with a bang this April, offering three presentations running the gamut from graduate students to seasoned professionals.

First up will be Dao Strom, a writer and musician based in Portland, Oregon. Strom will read from her works at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in 3512 Knauss Hall.

Strom's presentation will be followed by a reading featuring New Issues Press authors Carol Zoref and Myronn Hardy. The two authors will read at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13, in 157-159 Bernhard Center.

Finally, graduate student authors will get in on the act a little over a week later as part of the Western Michigan University M.F.A./Ph.D. Festival. The student readings start at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22, in 157-159 Bernhard Center.

Dao Strom

Strom's work explores hybridity through melding disparate voices—written, sung and visual—to contemplate the intersection of personal and collective histories. Her books include "We Were Meant to Be a Gentle People," "The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys" and "Grass Roof, Tin Roof."

Her writing has received support from the Regional Arts Culture and Council, Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Zoref and Hardy

Zoref and Hardy also have established distinguished writing careers.

Zoref is a fiction writer and essayist. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and New York University and lives in New York City. She is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hall Farm Center for Arts and In Our Own Write. Zoref also is the author of "Barren Island," winner of the AWP Award for the Novel from the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.

Hardy is the author of four books of poems, "Approaching the Center," "The Headless Saints," "Catastrophic Bliss" and, most recently, "Kingdom." He has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Cave Canem, the Annenberg Foundation, Djerassi, The Fundaciao Sacatar and Fundacion Valparaiso. His poems have appeared in such journals as Ploughshares, Indiana Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, FIELD and elsewhere. He teaches at Akhawayn University in Morocco.

All of the readings are free and open to the public.