Writers'
Workshop
For more than 20 years, Williston’s Writers’ Workshop Series has brought celebrated authors to campus to teach, share insights on the writing process, and inspire the next generation of writers. We’ve hosted screen writers, poets, editors, novelists, journalists, and memoirists, including multiple winners of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. For students in the Writers’ Workshop class, the trimester involves the study of a visiting author, culminating in a master class and community-wide reading. Read an article about the 20th anniversary of the Writers’ Workshop.
2023-24 Writers' Workshop Presenters
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September 16, 2024: T Kira Madden
T Kira Māhealani Madden is a writer, photographer, and amateur magician. She is the founding editor of No Tokens, a magazine of literature and art, and has received fellowships from MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Tin House, DISQUIET, NYSCA/NYFA, and Yaddo. Her debut memoir, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, and a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award for lesbian memoir. Her debut novel, Whidbey, is forthcoming with Mariner, HarperCollins. Winner of the 2021 Judith A. Markowitz Award, she teaches at Mount Holyoke College, and serves as the 2024 Distinguished Writer in Residence at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
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September 23, 2024: Akil Kumarasamy
Kumarasamy released her debut novel, Meet Us by the Roaring Sea, in 2022. The book was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and was also shortlisted for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize and the Lambda Literary Award. A collection of short stories titled Half Gods was awarded the Bard Fiction Prize and the Story Spotlight Award. Other writings of hers have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, American Short Fiction, BOMB, and many others. She is currently an assistant professor in the Rutgers University-Newark MFA program and a 2024-25 fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
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October 14, 2024: Noor Hindi
Hindi is a Palestinian-American poet. Her debut collection of poems, Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow was an honorable mention for the Arab American Book Award. She is currently editing a Palestinian poetry anthology with George Abraham scheduled for publication in 2025.
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October 21, 2024: Elizabeth Mikesch
Mikesch is the author of Niceties: Aural Ardor, Pardon Me, published in 2014. Her writing has appeared in a variety of literary magazines, including BOMB, The Believer, Unsaid, Sleepingfish, and Caketrain. In 2017, she was an artist-in-residence at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art for an interdisciplinary project connected to a manuscript she wrote, The Bottom. In addition to writing, Mikesch also teaches creative writing and composition at Smith College, UMass, the Juniper Institute for Young Writers, and InsideOut Literary Arts Project.
A Selection of Past Presenters
Colum McCann
Irish-born journalist and novelist Colum McCann discussed his National-Book-Award-winning novel Let the Great World Spin with classes, and made the case for reading’s being a gateway to empathy.
Anita Shreve
The late best-selling author of The Pilot’s Wife and The Weight of Water—a parent of two Williston graduates—Anita Shreve spoke to students about her stories that describe “life intensely felt.”
Jennifer duBois
Award-winning writer Jennifer duBois ’02 has twice led workshops at Williston, first with her acclaimed debut novel A Partial History of Lost Causes, and then for its follow-up, the “psychologically astute” Cartwheel.
Nic Stone
New York Times best-selling author Nic Stone discussed her debut novel Dear Martin, whose protagonist opens a literary dialogue with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her second novel is Odd One Out.
Mo Willems
Mo Willems P’19 told his Williston audience that he writes “incomprehensible books for illiterates,” which was his way of saying that the pigeon and other iconic characters he’s invented are co-created by his readers.
Colson Whitehead
Pulitzer Prize–winning author Colson Whitehead visited campus as a Writers’ Workshop presenter, following a school-wide read of his novel The Nickel Boys. In conversation with students, he spoke about the books that shaped him, the power of literature, and the importance of embracing one’s inner “weirdo.”
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Past Visiting Writers by Year
2023-24
Maggie Bailey
Ousmane K. Power-Greene
Anna Qu
Elizabeth Acevedo2022-23
Martín Espada
Major Jackson
Kelly Link
Bianca Stone2021-22
Rachel Cerrotti
Ross Gay
Colson Whitehead
Chen Chen2019-20
Debra Immergut
Jim Shepard
Manuel Gonzales
April Bernard2018-19
Dr. Roger Reeves
Naomi Jackson
Jen Acker
Karen Shepard2017-18
Madeleine Blais P’00, ’04
Timothy Donnelly
Colum McCann
Nic Stone2016-17
Steve Bloom
Keri Smith
Laura Tillman
Andy Ward2015-16
Ian Cheney
John Katzenbach P’00, ’04
David Maraniss
Debra Monroe2014-15
George Colt
Jennifer duBois
Anne Fadiman
Joan Wickersham2013-14
Elinor Lipman P’00
Rebecca Makkai
Patricia McCormick
Mary Jo Salter2012-13
Christopher Benfey
Jennifer duBois ’02
Anita Shreve
Mo Willems2011-12
Lynne Barrett
Andre Dubus III
Nikky Finney
Alison Pace1998-2010
Anita Shreve
Anthony Giardin
Arthur Golden
Augusten Burroughs
Bill Littlefield
Bret Lott
Cammie McGovern
Cathleen Schine
Chic Eglee
Chris Bohjalian
Curtis Sittenfeld
Daniel Jones
David Huddle
David Stern
Deborah Monroe
Elinor Lipman
Elizabeth Alexander
Frederick Reiken
Gregory Maguire
Helen Fremont
James Tate
Jill McCorkle
Joan Wickersham
Jodi Picoult
John Edgar Weideman
John Katzenbach
John Marks
Jonathan Harr
Joseph Ellis
Joseph Nocera
Kevin Sweeney
Kurt Brown
Laure-Anne Bosselaire
Les Standiford
Madeleine Blais
Mameve Medwed
Martín Espada
Mary Jo Salter
Meg Wolitzer
Nora Raleigh Baskin
Pam Houston
Peter Smith
Philip Caputo
Richard Russo
Robert Meeropol
Roland Merullo
Seabastian Stuart
Stacy Schiff
Sue Miller
Susan Snively
Suzanne Strempek Shea
Thomas French
Tom Perrotta
Tracy Kidder
Wally Lamb
Wyn Cooper
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