FOUR MFA FACULTY MEMBERS ON OUR STELLAR READING SERIES

The slate of evening readings at Warren Wilson is like a “Best-Of” playlist. You sit back and enjoy ten-minute samples of some of the best literary fiction and poetry written by both established and emerging voices. The work is often new or in-progress, available only in that form on that one night, which makes for an exciting sneak preview as well as a window into the process of drafting and revision.

It is a rare thing to have the chance to hear more than 20 acclaimed writers, many of whom have won major book awards and fellowships, read over the span of one week. Every January and July, the greater Asheville area has just such an opportunity with the nightly MFA faculty readings at Warren Wilson.

Warren Wilson is my favorite place to read, as well as my favorite place to listen to readings. I love the mixture of fiction and poetry, the variety, and the consistent brilliance of my MFA colleagues—that sense, when we’re reading together, that we are all joined in a shared project, blissfully contributing our own little bit to something larger. What a treat, to visit this heavenly snack bar of literary delights!

These residency readings are remarkable for casting light on a range of literary arts, and for setting a high bar for performance. There is a scatter of discerning fellow-artists throughout the audience each night to keep all of us percolating, right in the midst of an arts residency’s ten-day exchange of ideas and excitements. Readers and listeners are all artists themselves, gifted across a broad array of modes. That fact contributes to a feeling of ongoing colloquium each evening, a kaleidoscope of contemporary literary figures and tones that resolves, finally, into an incomparable esprit de corps.