Fiction writer

Alicia Conroy

Fiction writer

George Rabasa

Poet, fiction writer, and creative nonficiton writer

Ka Vang

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Talk on craft
3:00 P.M.—CSU Ostrander Auditorium
Reading
7:30 P.M.—CSU Room 253

Alicia L. Conroy publishes reviews and fiction and is on the English faculty of Normandale Community College. Her book Lives of Mapmakers was a 2007 finalist for the Minnesota Book Awards and her awards include a Jerome Foundation travel grant. She has an MFA in creative writing from Bowling Green State University.

George Rabasa’s most recent novel, The Wonder Singer, was published in 2008. His previous books, the collection of short stories Glass Houses and the novel Floating Kingdom, both received the Minnesota Book Award for fiction. His novel The Cleansing was named a BookSense Notable Book for 2007. His short fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, StoryQuarterly, South Carolina Review, Hayden’s Ferry, American Literary Review, Atlanta Review, and various anthologies. He was born in Maine and lived many years in Mexico City, until the search for the ideal climate took him to Minnesota.

Ka Vang is a regular columnist for the Minnesota Women’s Press. She is a playwright, poet and prose writer. Her writings are featured in various literary magazines and are taught in classrooms across America. Vang’s short story, “Ms. Pac Man Ruined My Gang Life,” was featured in two anthologies: Bamboo Among the Oaks and Charlie Chan is Dead II: At Home in the World. Vang has won numerous writing grants, awards and fellowships, including the prestigious Archibald Bush Artist Fellowship.

See a writing sample by Conroy.

See a writing sample by Rabasa.

See a writing sample by Vang.

Listen to the interview, craft talk, or reading.

To learn more about Conroy, see this web site.

To learn more about Rabasa, see this web site.

To learn more about Vang, see this web site.

If you attended any component of this residency, please offer your comments.

This year's Good Thunder Reading Series is funded by the Minnesota State University Department of English, the College of Arts and Humanities, the Office of Institutional Diversity, the Nadine B. Andreas Endowment, the Eddice B. Barber Visiting Writer Endowment, the Robert C. Wright Endowment, and individual donors. This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council from funds appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature. This activity is also made possible in part by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. MSU Library Services and Barnes & Noble Bookstore at Minnesota State offer additional support.