Former poet laureate of Maine and best-selling author, Baron Wormser, will share and discuss his work at Fairfield University as part of University College's The Inspired Writer: The MFA Distinguished Author Series. The public is welcome to this free event that takes place on Wednesday, October 8 at 7 p.m. in the DiMenna Nyselius Library Multimedia room.

The MFA Distinguished Author Series is a showcase for the University's new MFA in Creative Writing program that begins with the Winter 2008/2009 10-day residency at Enders Island off the coast of Mystic. Conn. Program Director Michael White heads the initial residency that includes Wormser, memoirist and poet Mark Doty and novelist Anita Shreve as faculty.

Wormser's most recent work, "Scattered Chapters," is a collection of poetry published earlier in 2008. His book of short stories, "The Poetry Life: Ten Stories," was also published this year and includes the story, "William Blake," winner of the 2006 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for fiction from Southwest Review. "The Road Washes Out in Spring: A Poet's Memoir of Living Off the Grid," was published in 2006 and has met with great success.

Wormser was appointed Poet Laureate of Maine by Governor Angus King in 2000. He served in that capacity for six years and during that time he visited many libraries and schools throughout the state.

Wormser's other works merited several awards including the Frederick Bock Prize for Poetry and the Kathryn A. Morton Prize. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and Bread Loaf.

The next Inspired Authors' writer is Anita Shreve on Oct. 28 in the Barone Campus Center Oak Room.

For more information on this event please call (203) 254-4110 or visit the website at www.fairfield.edu/uc.

Posted On: 09-26-2008 10:09 AM

Volume: 41 Number: 74