2020 - ECC Writers Center Reading Series Goes Virtual for Fall 2020

The Writers Center at Elgin Community College will host three authors for the Fall 2020 Reading Series. Due to current social distancing regulations, the events will take place using the Zoom platform. All readings begin at 7:30 pm.

On Thursday, September 24, the Reading Series begins with Nate Marshall, an award-winning author, editor, poet, playwright, performer, educator, speaker, and rapper. His book, Wild Hundreds, was honored with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s award for Poetry Book of the Year and The Great Lakes College Association’s New Writer Award. Marshall is an editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, and he co-curates The BreakBeat Poets series for Haymarket Books. Marshall co-wrote the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. His next book, FINNA, is due out in 2020.

Author Jeremy T. Wilson will introduce his work on Thursday, October 22. Wilson is the author of the short story collection Adult Teeth. He is a former winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Nelson Algren Award for short fiction, and his stories have appeared in literary magazines such as The Carolina Quarterly, The Florida Review, Hobart, The Masters Review, Sonora Review, Third Coast. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from Northwestern University and teaches creative writing at The Chicago High School for the Arts. Wilson resides in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife and daughter.

The final fall author will be Adrian Matejka on Thursday, November 12. Matejka is the author of The Devil’s Garden, winner of the New York/New England Award, and Mixology, a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series. His third collection, The Big Smoke, was awarded the 2014 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award, 2014 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and 2014 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. He was also named the 2018-19 Poet Laureate of Indiana. Matejka’s book, Map to the Stars, was published in 2017, and his first graphic novel Last On His Feet is coming in 2021. A graduate of the MFA program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, he now teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington.

All readings are free and open to the public. To join use the Zoom links below. For the dial-in number or more information on the Writers Center, please contact Racheal Stewart at rstewart@elgin.edu.

Nate Marshall

September 24, 2020, 7:30 pm

Zoom: Nate Marshall

Meeting ID: 991 1251 6943; Passcode: 67mN2s

Jeremy T. Wilson 

October 22, 2020, 7:30 pm

Zoom: Jeremy T. Wilson

Meeting ID: 974 3236 5195; Passcode: 67mN2s

Adrian Matejka

November 12, 2020, 7:30 pm

Zoom: Adrian Matejka

Meeting ID: 994 7963 5987; Passcode: 67mN2s