Visiting Writers Series

Three Craft Talks and One Reading

These events are all free and open to the public, unless indicated otherwise. Readings are sponsored by the Virginia Tech MFA Program in Creative Writing and the Department of English.

Divya Victor Craft Talk

When: Sept. 12 | 3 p.m.
Where: Newman Library Goodall Room
Free Admission
Contact: Matthew Vollmer

Divya Victor, poet, is the first in a series of four 2024–2025 Visiting Writers, sponsored by the M.F.A. Program. She is a Tamil American poet, essayist, and educator, is the award-winning author of CURB and several other acclaimed works. Her poetry and essays have been featured in The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and POETRY. She is an associate professor and director of the creative writing program at Michigan State University. Visit her website to learn more.

Nawal Nader-French Craft Talk

When: Nov. 14 | 3 p.m.
Where: Newman Library Goodall Room
Free Admission
Contact: Matthew Vollmer

Nawal Nader-French, poet, is the second in a series of four 2024–2025 Visiting Writers, sponsored by the M.F.A. Program. She is a poet who grew up in Accra, Beirut, and lived in Hamburg, London, and Hawaii before landing in Colorado. NOEMI Press published her first book, A record of how the mother’s textile became sound. Her work has been featured in North American Review, Fence, and Texas Review. Currently, she is an affiliate faculty member at Regis University and the founding editor-in-chief of Inverted Syntax. Visit her website to learn more.

An Evening with Charles Yu

When: March 25, 2025 | 7:30 p.m.
Where: Street and Davis Performance Hall, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, Moss Center
Tickets: $25 general admission, $10 students with ID and youth 18 and under

Charles Yu is the author of the critically-acclaimed, genre-bending Interior Chinatown, a National Book Award winner that explores the confining stereotypes of Asian Americans in Hollywood and in American culture. A television screenwriter (HBO’s Westworld) and the author of three other books — including How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, named one of the best books of the year by Time magazine — Yu delivers an entertaining and thought-provoking onstage interview, discussing the Asian American experience, representation and stereotypes in film and television, and the unique power of science fiction to address the human condition. 

Hailed for his sharp wit and incisive social commentary, Yu’s work is as inventive as it is moving. In his entertaining and thought-provoking lectures, Yu speaks to audiences of all kinds about the Asian American experience, representation and stereotypes in film and television, and the unique power of science fiction to address the human condition.

Visit the Moss Center for more information.

Ada Zhang Craft Talk

When: April 10 | 3 p.m.
Where: Newman Library Goodall Room
Free Admission
Contact: Matthew Vollmer

Ada Zhang is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her short stories have appeared in A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Alaska Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. She was the James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin and currently teaches at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The Sorrows of Others is her first book. Visit her website to learn more.