Fiction writer Charles Baxter’s many works include Harmony
of the World, which won the Associated Writing Programs
Award for Short Fiction; Through the Safety Net, First
Light; A Relative Stranger; Shadow Play; Believers, a collection
of stories and a novella; The Feast of Love, which
was a finalist for the National Book Award, and which has just
been filmed for an Autumn, '07, release; Saul and Patsy;
and Burning Down the House, essays on fiction. He has
received countless awards, including fellowships from the NEA,
the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Lila Wallace–Reader’s
Digest Fund. His work has been selected for The Best American
Short Stories five times.
Fleda Brown
Fleda
Brown won the Felix Pollak Prize for her newest collection of
poems, Reunion (University of Wisconsin Press, 2007). She is
the author of five previous collections, most recently The Women
Who Loved Elvis All Their Lives (Carnegie Mellon Univ. Press,
2004). Her others are Fishing With Blood (winner of the Great
Lakes Colleges New Writer’s Award, Purdue Univ. Press,
1988), Do Not Peel the Birches (Purdue, 1993), The Devil’s
Child (Carnegie Mellon, 1999), and Breathing In, Breathing Out,
(winner of the Philip Levine Prize, Anhinga Press, 2002). She
is retired from the University of Delaware and is on the faculty
of the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program
at Pacific Lutheran University. She is poet laureate of Delaware.
Catherine
Carter
Catherine Carter earned her PhD at the University of Delaware.
teaches English Education and Creative Writing at Western Carolina
University. She is the author of The Memory of Gills,
(LSU Press 2006).
Gish Jen
Kirkus
Reviews describes Chinese-American author Gish Jen’s most
recent publication, Who's Irish?: And Other Stories
as a "sharp-eyed debut collection of eight stories examining
American life from a foreigner's perspective." Her first
novel Typical American was a New York Times notable book of
the year and a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle
award. The Los Angles Times listed her second novel,
Mona in the Promised Land, one of the ten best books of 1996.
Jen's stories have been published in The New Yorker, The
Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, The Los Angeles Times, and
The New York Times, as well as in numerous textbooks
and anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories of
the Century, edited by John Updike. She has received grants
from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Bunting Institute, the Lannan
Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Farnoosh Moshiri
Iranian
born Fiction Writer Farnoosh Moshiri published her work in Iranian
literary magazines before the 1979 revolution and in anthologies
published outside Iran in the 1980s. In 1983 she fled her country
after a massive arrest of secular intellectuals, feminists,
and political activists. Her novels and collections include
At the Wall of Almighty; The Bathhouse; The Crazy Dervish
and the Pomegranate Tree, and Against Gravity.
Among other awards and fellowships, she is the recipient of
Barbara Deming Award: A grant to feminist writers whose work
speaks of peace and social justice; two consecutive Black Heron
Awards for Social Fiction, and Valiente Award from Voices Breaking
Boundaries. Her novels have been translated into several languages.
Tanure Ojaide
Renowned
African poet Tanure Ojaide has won major national and international
poetry awards. His poetry publications include Labyrinths
of the Delta; The Eagle's Vision; The Endless Song; The Fate
of Vultures; The Blood of Peace; The Daydream of Ants; Delta
Blues & Home Song; and Invoking the Warrior Spirit.
Besides two books of literary criticism, Poetic Imagination
in Black Africa: Essays on African Poetry; and The
Poetry of Wole Soyinka, he has published a memoir, Great
Boys: An African Childhood. Invoking the Warrior Spirit:
New and Selected Poems is forthcoming from Africa World
Press.
R.T. Smith
Rod
Smith's collections of stories are Faith and Uke
Rivers Delivers, selections of which have appeared in Best
American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the
South, and Best American Mystery Stories. He is
working on a novel called Rock Bridge. His collections
of poetry include The Cardinal Heart, Trespasser, Split
the Lark, Messenger, The Hollow Log Lounge and Brightwood.
A new collection is forthcoming from the University of Arkansas
Press. He has received the Cohen Prize from Ploughshares, the
Guy Owen Prize from Southern Humanities Review and
the Richard Hugo Prize from Poetry Northwest. One of
Smith's short stories was in the trio which won the 2006 National
Magazine Award in Fiction for Virginia Quarterly Review.
He has received fellowships from the Alabama State Council for
the Arts, the N.E.A., and the Virginia Arts Commission and Arts
Council.. (Photo by Sarah Kennedy)
Nick Taylor
Nick
Taylor’s nine non-fiction books include John Glenn:
A Memoir, a collaboration with astronaut and former Senator
John Glenn; Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and
The Thirty-Year Patent War; In Hitler’s Shadow; and
Sins of the Father. He is working on a narrative history
of the WPA for 2007. Nick Taylor grew up in Asheville and attended
WCU. He lives in New York City.
Fiction writer Charles Baxter’s many works include Harmony
of the World, which won the Associated Writing Programs
Award for Short Fiction; Through the Safety Net, First
Light; A Relative Stranger; Shadow Play; Believers, a collection
of stories and a novella; The Feast of Love, which
was a finalist for the National Book Award, and which has just
been filmed for an Autumn, '07, release; Saul and Patsy;
and Burning Down the House, essays on fiction. He has
received countless awards, including fellowships from the NEA,
the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Lila Wallace–Reader’s
Digest Fund. His work has been selected for The Best American
Short Stories five times.
Fleda
Brown won the Felix Pollak Prize for her newest collection of
poems, Reunion (University of Wisconsin Press, 2007). She is
the author of five previous collections, most recently The Women
Who Loved Elvis All Their Lives (Carnegie Mellon Univ. Press,
2004). Her others are Fishing With Blood (winner of the Great
Lakes Colleges New Writer’s Award, Purdue Univ. Press,
1988), Do Not Peel the Birches (Purdue, 1993), The Devil’s
Child (Carnegie Mellon, 1999), and Breathing In, Breathing Out,
(winner of the Philip Levine Prize, Anhinga Press, 2002). She
is retired from the University of Delaware and is on the faculty
of the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program
at Pacific Lutheran University. She is poet laureate of Delaware.
Catherine
Carter
Kirkus
Reviews describes Chinese-American author Gish Jen’s most
recent publication, Who's Irish?: And Other Stories
as a "sharp-eyed debut collection of eight stories examining
American life from a foreigner's perspective." Her first
novel Typical American was a New York Times notable book of
the year and a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle
award. The Los Angles Times listed her second novel,
Mona in the Promised Land, one of the ten best books of 1996.
Jen's stories have been published in The New Yorker, The
Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, The Los Angeles Times, and
The New York Times, as well as in numerous textbooks
and anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories of
the Century, edited by John Updike. She has received grants
from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Bunting Institute, the Lannan
Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Iranian
born Fiction Writer Farnoosh Moshiri published her work in Iranian
literary magazines before the 1979 revolution and in anthologies
published outside Iran in the 1980s. In 1983 she fled her country
after a massive arrest of secular intellectuals, feminists,
and political activists. Her novels and collections include
At the Wall of Almighty; The Bathhouse; The Crazy Dervish
and the Pomegranate Tree, and Against Gravity.
Among other awards and fellowships, she is the recipient of
Barbara Deming Award: A grant to feminist writers whose work
speaks of peace and social justice; two consecutive Black Heron
Awards for Social Fiction, and Valiente Award from Voices Breaking
Boundaries. Her novels have been translated into several languages.
Renowned
African poet Tanure Ojaide has won major national and international
poetry awards. His poetry publications include Labyrinths
of the Delta; The Eagle's Vision; The Endless Song; The Fate
of Vultures; The Blood of Peace; The Daydream of Ants; Delta
Blues & Home Song; and Invoking the Warrior Spirit.
Besides two books of literary criticism, Poetic Imagination
in Black Africa: Essays on African Poetry; and The
Poetry of Wole Soyinka, he has published a memoir, Great
Boys: An African Childhood. Invoking the Warrior Spirit:
New and Selected Poems is forthcoming from Africa World
Press. 
Rod
Smith's collections of stories are Faith and Uke
Rivers Delivers, selections of which have appeared in Best
American Short Stories, Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the
South, and Best American Mystery Stories. He is
working on a novel called Rock Bridge. His collections
of poetry include The Cardinal Heart, Trespasser, Split
the Lark, Messenger, The Hollow Log Lounge and Brightwood.
A new collection is forthcoming from the University of Arkansas
Press. He has received the Cohen Prize from Ploughshares, the
Guy Owen Prize from Southern Humanities Review and
the Richard Hugo Prize from Poetry Northwest. One of
Smith's short stories was in the trio which won the 2006 National
Magazine Award in Fiction for Virginia Quarterly Review.
He has received fellowships from the Alabama State Council for
the Arts, the N.E.A., and the Virginia Arts Commission and Arts
Council.. (Photo by Sarah Kennedy)
Nick
Taylor’s nine non-fiction books include John Glenn:
A Memoir, a collaboration with astronaut and former Senator
John Glenn; Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate, and
The Thirty-Year Patent War; In Hitler’s Shadow; and
Sins of the Father. He is working on a narrative history
of the WPA for 2007. Nick Taylor grew up in Asheville and attended
WCU. He lives in New York City.