Spring reading series features Levine Prize winner, MFA faculty

The Fresno State Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing will feature the 2016 winner of the Philip Levine Prize and two of its own accomplished faculty authors in its Spring 2018 Fresno Poets’ Association reading series.

Each of the readings will start at 7 p.m. in the Alice Peters Auditorium (Peters Business building, Room 191) inside the University Business Center.

Friday, Feb. 16 – Rachel Rinehart

The winner of the 2016 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry, Rinehart’s debut poetry collection “The Church in the Plains” is from Anhinga Press. Her writing has appeared Prairie Schooner, the Massachusetts Review, the Indiana Review, the Mid-American Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, the Colorado Review, and others. A native of Chuckery, Ohio, she currently teaches English composition and poetry as a visiting assistant professor at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

Admission is free. Parking is free in suggested lot P6.

(See a video of Rinehart reading the title poem from her collection, “The Church in the Plains.”)

Thursday, March 22 – Tim Skeen

The James and Coke Hallowell Professor of Creative Writing at Fresno State, Dr. Timothy Skeen is the author of three books including the new poetry collection “Reward” from Finishing Line Press. His writing has appeared the Antioch Review, Prairie Schooner, New Letters, the Mid-American Review, The Southern Review and the Sonora Review. He’s a professor of English at Fresno State.

Admission is free. Parking costs $3 in suggested lot P6.

Friday, May 11 – Steven Church

A founding editor of The Normal School literary magazine, Steven Church is the author of five books including the new nonfiction book “I’m Just Getting to the Disturbing Part: On Work, Fear and Fatherhood” from Outpost19 Books. His writing has appeared in Fourth Genre, The Rumpus, River Teeth and elsewhere. He’s an associate professor of English at Fresno State, and he serves as coordinator of the Creative Writing Program.

Admission is free. Parking is free in suggested lot P6.

The Fresno Poets’ Association is a decades-old reading series that features poetry and prose readings in conjunction with the Creative Writing Program and the College of Arts and Humanities. For more information, call 559.278.1569.