THE ROBERT C. WRIGHT MINNESOTA WRITER RESIDENCY

Fiction writer

Charles Baxter

Fiction and nonfiction writer
Benjamin Drevlow

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Talk on craft
3:00 P.M. (Baxter)—CSU Ostrander Auditorium
Reading
7:30 P.M.—CSU Ostrander Auditorium

CHARLES BAXTER was born in Minneapolis in 1947, graduated from Macalester College with a BA degree in 1969, and the State University of New York at Buffalo with a PhD in 1974, and lived for many years in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he taught at the University of Michigan. He is the author of several novels and short story collections, the most recent being Saul and Patsy, published in 2003. His previous novel, The Feast of Love, was a finalist for the National Book Award. His other works include two novels, First Light and Shadow Play, and four books of stories, most recently Believers. He has also published essays on fiction in Burning Down the House and the forthcoming Beyond Plot, and has edited or co-edited three books of essays, The Business of Memory, Bringing the Devil to His Knees, and A William Maxwell Portrait. His book of poems, Imaginary Paintings, was published by Paris Review Editions. He has received the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Prix St. Valentine in France, and the Catalan Booksellers’ Association Award for book of the year in Spain. He now lives in Minneapolis and is currently the Edelstein-Keller Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota.

For a portfolio of fiction and nonfiction, BENJAMIN DREVLOW won First Place in the 2005 Robert Wright Awards competition. The judge said of his work: “In ‘The Afterwards’ Drevlow battles against forgetting his brother who killed himself. In the very rich, bitterly funny ‘The Stories I Tell,’ he returns to some of the same territory, delving into father-son relationships in his family, and we learn he’s the ‘only surviving male in my family with ten whole fingers.’ The story ‘Fish For Everybody’ is a dark piece about the power and privateness of imagination. His work is searingly honest and sweeps the reader along with its sheer energy and insistent rhythm.” Drevlow is a third-year MFA candidate at MSU Mankato.

Listen to an interview with Charles Baxter.

This year's Good Thunder Reading Series is funded by the Minnesota State University Department of English, the MSU College of Arts and Humanities, the MSU Office of Institutional Diversity, MSU Library Services, 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. The Barnes & Noble Bookstore at Minnesota State offers additional support.