Three 2017-2018 fellows from the professional creative writing program funded by the founder of the John Steinbeck center at San Jose State University will read from their work and answer audience questions at 7:00 p.m. on December 7, 2017, in Room 590 of the MLK Library on the SJSU campus in downtown San Jose, California. Martha Heasley Cox, the professor-philanthropist who advanced the study and teaching of John Steinbeck by example and exhortation when she was alive, left a large estate gift ensuring the financial security of the program, which supports a select group of writers each year, when she died in 2015. Sunisa Manning will read from the novel she is writing about a group of radicalized students in Thailand during the turbulent 1970s. Dominica Phetteplace will also read from her recent writing, which includes literary and science fiction. C. Kevin Smith, the third fellow who will share insights into his work, is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the grandfather of graduate creative programs in America. The San Jose State University event is free and open to the public and includes a reception. For further information, contact Nick Taylor, the writer-professor who directs the Steinbeck studies center and the creative writing program that comprise Cox’s extraordinary legacy, at nicholas.taylor@sjsu.edu.
About Administrative Team
This is one of the most exciting things happening at SJSU–with the promise of its reputation growing and growing. I was involved in founding the Fellows Program, and I hope those who read SteinbeckNow.com will check out the website that features the accomplishments of these authors who have in many cases gotten their start here.
Paul Douglass is the English professor who worked with Martha Cox to start the writers program and preceded Nick Taylor in running the center. During his tenure the program was integrated into the center, where it has achieved the outstanding record for which, with Cox, he deserves the credit.