So, I’m going to pose a hypothetical: You’re in New York City, and you are bored. You languish urbanely in your loft (it’s an extremely generous hypothetical). However, boredom is generally hard to sustain in a city like New York, where finding things to do is more a matter of choosing. Let’s say you’re a particularly literary metropolitan. You could go see John Jeremiah Sullivan do a nonfiction reading at a bar in the East Village, go to a reading of The Paris Review in a bookstore on Broadway or see the Happy Ending reading series at the Ace Hotel. Let’s take a moment to reflect on the fact that those are all actual things that are happening, just this week, in New York.
I apologize for forcing us all into the infinite feedback loop of pining that is thinking about New York City.
Of course, you’re not in New York. You’re in Gainesville, and you are bored. Lucky for you, UF has a really great graduate creative writing program. MFA@FLA has brought award-winning writers to the school for 63 years to give readings and talk about writing in a three-day-long festival. For the past three years, the festival has been completely student run, and all visiting authors are chosen from the favorites of the MFA students themselves.
Here’s this year’s lineup:
Mary Gaitskill
Reading at 8 p.m., Oct. 12, Ustler Hall Atrium
Craft talk at 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Oct.13, Ustler Hall Atrium
Author of short stories, novels, and essays, including “Veronica,” which was nominated for a 2005 National Book Award, and “Because They Wanted to,” which was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award. One of her short stories, “Secretary,” was made into a movie by the same name in 2002. Gaitskill is known for writing frankly about topics like sex, prostitution, gang rape and abuse, as well as marrying a straightforward tone and lyricism in her works. Here’s a short story about a man contemplating his daughter’s lesbianism or another about a man who is fascinated with violence.
Lauren Groff
Reading at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 11, Alachua County Library District Headquarters
Craft talk at 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Oct. 13, Ustler Hall Atrium
Author of short stories and novels, including “The Monsters of Templeton,” which debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. Groff lives in Gainesville and has just recently come out with her second novel, “Arcadia,” which is about a utopian commune in upstate New York and its eventual downfall. Her writing has been described as reminiscent of fairy-tales and magical realism, but the lives she depicts are real and tangible. Here’s a short story about a child in a village hit by a plague, and a love story about a girl with polio and a swimmer, and the arrival of the Spanish Influenza.
Ben Lerner
Reading at 8 p.m., Oct.12, Ustler Hall Atrium
Craft talk at 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Oct. 13, Ustler Hall Atrium
Author of poetry and novels, including his debut novel “Leaving the Atocha Station,” which was named one of the best books of 2011 by The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, New York Magazine and The Believer. Lerner’s work is hyper perceptive and thoughtful: his debut novel deals with the fraudulence of fraudulence, the multiplicity of language and the complexity of communication. His book of poems “Mean Free Path” can be read as “…seeking out a form that never quite becomes actual.” Here’s a poem from “Mean Free Path,” and an excerpt from “The Lichtenberg Figures,” a book of 55 sonnets in sequence. Here’s an excerpt from “Leaving the Atocha Station.”
Karen Solie
Reading at 8 p.m., Oct.13, Ustler Hall Atrium
Craft talk at 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Oct. 13, Ustler Hall Atrium
Author of three award-winning collections of poetry. She writes on many themes, including the past, delusions and, as the award which named her most recent book as its winner called it, “existential bewilderment.” She uses nature and the outdoors frequently as a strategic and humanly present character. Here’s a poem, and here’s a video of her reading “Migration” from her most recent collection, “Pigeon.” Here’s another video of her reading “Sturgeon” from her collection “Short Haul Engine.”.
Kevin Wilson
Reading at 8 p.m., Oct. 13, Ustler Hall Atrium
Craft talk at 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Oct. 13, Ustler Hall Atrium
Author of short stories and a novel, “The Family Fang,” which was a New York Times Bestseller. Wilson can write about the bizarre, absurd, dark and the curiously mundane. He can be bittersweet and heartbreaking, or disgusting. He is always hilarious. He has a knack for anchoring the absurd in reality, and the most mundane in the surreal. Also, he has an awesome Southern accent.
All these writers will be offering readings around campus or at the Alachua Public Library for free starting Thursday. If you are at all interested in writing (or reading!), it’s a great opportunity. “It's important for writers to experience the literary innovations of our own time,” said Becca Evanhoe, festival organizer. Travis Fristoe, MFA student, agrees, “Writers Fest is a celebratory weekend. Mary Gaitskill's stories make me feel more sane, and I'm honored to get a chance to hear her read her work.”
Exactly — the feeling more sane part, specifically. Hearing writers who can do that (only feet away from you!) is the biggest thrill. And it’s free! Find a new writer to love this weekend.
You can find the Festival on Facebook at: facebook.com/floridawritersfestival
Lauren Groff is one of several writers attending this year’s festival.
