Mark Brazaitis, associate professor of English and director of West Virginia University’s Creative Writing Program, and Katie Fallon, 2003 alumna of the Department of English’s master of fine arts degree (MFA) in creative writing, will read from their literary works on Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom. The reading is free and open to the public.

Brazaitis will read from his most recently published work “The Other Language: Poems,” winner of the 2008 ABZ Poetry Prize. His collection of poems are an eclectic mix of the exotic and dangerous adventures he experienced living in Guatemala during the country’s civil war, as well as local and domestic issues portrayed in his poem about a lost baby blanket.

His work has been called “exuberant, brilliantly alive, vulnerable, and wise” by poet Denise Duhamel, and “witty, passionate, and committed” by Charles Martin, who suggested Brazaitis’ poems explore other lives, cultures, and languages with sympathy and humor.

Brazaitis is also author of three books of fiction: “The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala,” winner of the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Award; “Steal My Heart,” a novel; and “An American Affair: Stories,” winner of the 2004 George Garrett Fiction Award.

Fallon writes creative nonfiction with an emphasis on nature, science, and place, and has published work in Fourth Genre, River Teeth, Ecotone, Isotope, Now & Then, and Appalachian Heritage, among others.

Previously, Fallon was an advanced instructor of creative writing in the Department of English at Virginia Tech. Currently, she is working as the Education Director of the West Virginia Raptor Rehabilitation Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring injured birds of prey to the wild and conducting environmental education programs for the public.

For more information, contact Mark Brazaitis at 304-293-9707 or Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

lp/10/19/09

CONTACT: Rebecca Herod, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304-293-7405, ext. 5251, Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu