Stokes Center for Creative Writing

Frye Gaillard | Former USA Writer in Residence

Specializes in Southern culture and history.

HUMB 272  |  460-7952  |  fgaillard@fenxiong.net

Caleb Johnson | Assistant Professor of Creative Writing

Specializes in fiction.

HUMB 256  |  460-7417  |  calebjohnson@fenxiong.net

Charlotte Pence | Associate Professor of Creative Writing

Director of Creative Writing and Director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing.  Specializes in poetry and creative nonfiction.

HUMB 277  |  460-6149  |  cpence@fenxiong.net

Adam Prince | Stokes Visiting Writer

Specializes in fiction and screenwriting.

HUMB 351  |  460-7610  |  aprince@fenxiong.net

Ben Raines | Environmental Fellow and Writer in Residence

Specializes in environmental journalism.

HUMB 240 |  460-6146 |  braines@fenxiong.net

Cynthia Tucker | USA Journalist in Residence

Journalist and Pulitzer-Prize-winning commentator.

HUMB 380 |  460-7666  |  catucker@fenxiong.net

Open Mic Hosted by Catharsis of PowerLines Poetry - Tuesday, August 23, 2022, 5:00pm

South Alabama Alum, Catharsis of PowerLines Poetry, will perform and host an open mic night for first-year and transfer students at the University of South Alabama. If you like to express yourself or want to freestyle your feelings, this is the event for you! Come out and enjoy a night of spoken word with your fellow Jags. Hosted by the English department and the Stokes Center for Creative Writing. Pizza will be provided.

Chelsea Rathburn and James Davis May - Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 5:00pm

Celebrate National Poetry Month by enjoying an evening of poetry. Chelsea Rathburn, Poet Laureate of Georgia, is the author of three books of poetry, including the New York Times New & Noteworthy collection Still Life with Mother and Knife, published in 2019 by Louisiana State University Press. James Davis May, recipient of Poetry Society of America's Cecil Hemley Award, serves as Writer-in-Residence at Mercer University. His first poetry collection, Unquiet Things, was published by LSU Press in 2016 and a finalist for the Poets' Prize. In addition to the public reading, their visit includes guest lectures in two courses and private consultations with currently enrolled poetry students.

Please note:  The public event will be held at the USA Faculty Club. A book signing and reception with refreshments to follow.

Joseph Bathanti - Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 12:30pm and 2:00pm

The Southern Writers' Workshop is a regional author series curated by U.S.A. Writer-in-Residence Frye Gaillard. This year's writer is Joseph Bathanti. Bathanti, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina (2012-14) and recipient of the North Carolina Award in Literature, is author of seventeen books. Bathanti is McFarlane Family Distinguished Professor of Interdisciplinary Education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. He served as the 2016 Charles George VA Medical Center Writer-in-Residence in Asheville, NC, and is the co-founder of the Medical Center's Creative Writing Program.  Bathanti will lead participants in a free, one-hour class on writing at 12:30 pm. Coffee with refreshments will follow. Bathanti will then read from his work at 2:00 pm as part of the Southern Writers' Workshop.

Please note:  These back-to-back events will be held in the USA Faculty Club.

Bridgett M. Davis - Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 6:00pm

Bridgett M. Davis is author of the memoir The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers, which was a New York Times Editors' Choice, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, and named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, NBC News and Parade Magazine. She is also the author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow and Shifting Through Neutral, shortlisted for the Hurston/Wright Award, and writer/director of the award-winning feature film Naked Acts. A major advocate for promoting and nurturing literary talent by people of color, Davis is co-founder and curator for Words@Weeksville, a monthly reading series held at Weeksville Heritage Center in Central Brooklyn. While at the university, she will lead a creative writing class and provide a public reading.

Please note: The event will be held via Zoom. PHOTO: Nina Subin.

Brandon Hobson - Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 4:00pm

Fiction writer Brandon Hobson, 2018 finalist for the National Book Award, will be reading from his novel Where the Dead Sit Talking. He is the author, most recently, of the novel The Removed, praised by the L.A. Times as "a striking new benchmark for fiction about Native Americans." Hobson is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation Tribe of Oklahoma and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at New Mexico State University.   This event is free and open to the public and will be held in the USA Student Center Amphitheater.  A book signing and reception with refreshments will follow. In case of rain, the event will be relocated to the USA Student Center Terrace Room. Sponsored by the Stokes Center for Creative Writing and the USA Department of English.  PHOTO: Kay Lynn Hobson.

Poetry Heals: Writing Workshop for Healthcare Workers - Saturday, April 24, 2021, 2:00pm

In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Stokes Center for Creative Writing is offering a free writing class for Covid-19 healthcare workers. This interactive writing class will offer prompts, poems, and writing time during the afternoon session. This workshop is intended to inspire healing through poetry. The class is over Zoom on Saturday, April 24 from 2:00-3:30 CST. Registration is limited. 

Craft Talk with Eduardo Corral - Friday, March 26, 2021, 3:00pm

Join poet Eduardo Corral, winner of the Yale Younger Poets Prize, as he shares strategies on how to reimagine your revision process. His debut collection of poetry, Slow Lightning (2012), won the Yale Younger Poets Prize, making him the first Latino recipient of the award. His second collection is Guillotine (2020). Praised for his seamless blending of English and Spanish, tender treatment of history, and careful exploration of sexuality, Corral has received numerous honors and awards, including the Discovery/The Nation Award, the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Craft Talk with Traci Brimhall - Thursday, March 4, 2021, 5:00pm

Traci Brimhall is the author of Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod (Copper Canyon, 2020); Saudade (Copper Canyon, 2017), Our Lady of the Ruins (W.W. Norton, 2012), and Rookery (Southern Illinois University Press, 2010). Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, Poetry, The Believer, The New Republic, and Best American Poetry. A 2013 NEA Fellow, she’s currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Kansas State University.

Reading and Craft Talk with Lauren Groff - Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 6:00pm

Lauren Groff is the author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton, shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers, Delicate Edible Birds, a collection of stories, and Arcadia, a New York Times Notable Book, winner of the Medici Book Club Prize, and finalist for the L.A. Times Book Award. Her third novel, Fates and Furies, was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kirkus Award. Her work has appeared in journals including the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Tin House, One Story, and Ploughshares, and in the anthologies 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, PEN / O. Henry Prize Stories, and five editions of the Best American Short Stories. She lives in Gainesville, Florida with her husband, two sons, and dog.

Patricia Smith - Tuesday, November 10, 2020, 6:00pm

On Tuesday, November 10, poet Patricia Smith, National Book Award Finalist and four-time individual National Poetry Slam champion, will talk about her transition as a slam poet to the literary scene.

Patricia Smith is the award-winning author of eight critically-acclaimed books of poetry, including most recently Incendiary Art (2017), winner of numerous national awards and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (2012), and Blood Dazzler (2008), which focused on Hurricane Katrina. Her other works include the poetry collections Teahouse of the Almighty, Close to Death, Big Towns Big Talk, and Life According to Motown; a children’s book; and the history Africans in America, a companion to the PBS series. Her verse has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, The Baffler, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Tin House, and Best American Poetry, among other venues.

A Craft Talk with David James Poissant - Monday, October 19, 2020, 7:00pm

Are you looking to make over your book? Join talented author David James Poissant for his craft talk "Buying the Flowers Yourself: Beginning, Building, and Revising Your First Novel"! He will discuss what elements the first chapter of a literary novel should have.

David James Poissant is the author of the novel Lake Life (Simon & Schuster, 2020), a New York Times Editors' Choice selection, Publishers Weekly Summer Read, and a Millions Most Anticipated Book of 2020. His story collection The Heaven of Animals was a winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a Florida Book Award, a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize, and was longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. His stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, One Story, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and in numerous textbooks and anthologies including New Stories from the South, Best New American Voices, and Best American Experimental Writing. His books are currently in print in six languages. He teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Central Florida and lives in Orlando with his wife and daughters.

Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers - Monday, March 2, 2020, 7:30pm

We're thrilled to announce the third installment of the Annual Songwriter Keynote --- Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers live at the University of South Alabama on Monday, March 2, 2020!

This special event will feature a musical performance by Patterson Hood, a short presentation on roots music by Peter Cooper from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and a roundtable discussion that will include critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Will Johnson.  All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of IMC Volume One.  For more information, please visit rootsonrecord.org.

Patti Callahan - Thursday, February 13, 2020, 3:30pm and 5pm

On Thursday, February 13, join Patti Callahan, New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis, as she leads participants in a free, one-hour class on writing historical fiction at 3:30pm. Coffee with refreshments will follow.  Callahan will then read from her work at 5pm as part of the Southern Writers’ Workshop, a new feature to our series in 2020.

Keynote Speaker: Edwidge Danticat - Thursday, January 30, 2020, 5pm

Edwidge Danticat is the author of numerous books, including Brother, I’m Dying, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and a National Book Award finalist; Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; and The Dew Breaker, a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and winner of the inaugural Story Prize. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Danticat focuses on national identity, mother-daughter relationships, and diasporic politics. While at the university, she will lead a creative writing class for currently enrolled students and discuss her latest novel published in August of 2019. Co-sponsors include the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Dwell Mobile, and Phi Kappa Phi. 

Jill McCorkle - Wednesday, November 13, 2019, 5pm

Jill McCorkle has published six novels and four collections of short stories, five of which have been named New York Times notable books. Her work is anthologized in Best American Short Stories, New Stories from the South, and The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction.  McCorkle has received the New England Booksellers Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, the North Carolina Award for Literature, and the Thomas Wolfe Prize. She is core faculty in the Bennington Writing Seminars and frequently teaches in the Sewanee Writers Program. Her new novel Hieroglyphics will be published in spring 2020.  In addition to the public reading, McCorkle will lead a workshop for currently enrolled fiction students.

Writer in the Schools: Danez Smith - Thursday, September 19, 2019, 5pm

Danez Smith is a queer / poz writer and performer from St. Paul, MN. Danez is the author of Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book Award; they also wrote [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014), winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. They are the recipient of fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Montalvo Arts Center, Cave Canem, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Danez's work has been featured widely, appearing on platforms such as Buzzfeed, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Best American Poetry, Poetry Magazine, and on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Danez is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and is the co-host of VS with Franny Choi, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness. Danez’s third collection, Homie, will be published by Graywolf in Spring 2020.  In addition to leading a poetry writing class at U.S.A., Smith will also visit English classes at Murphy High School. Co-sponsors include the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Spectrum, and African-American Studies.

Diana Khoi Nguyen - Thursday, April 18, 2019, 5pm

Diana Khoi Nguyen’s debut collection, Ghost Of, won Omnidawn’s Open Contest in 2018 and is a finalist for the National Book Award, a rare honor for a first book. She is a poet and multimedia artist whose work has been awarded the 92Y "Discovery" / Boston Review Poetry Contest plus recognition from the Academy of American Poets. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in creative writing and teaches in the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. During her three-day residency in Mobile, Diana Khoi Nguyen will hold a workshop and conference with poetry students.

Josh Ritter - Thursday, March 7, 2019, 7:30pm

We're thrilled to announce our Annual Songwriter Keynote --- ASK 2019 will feature Josh Ritter, live at Laidlaw on Thursday, March 7th. The two-act event will feature a musical performance, a reading, and an interactive Q&A. 

Paste Magazine named Ritter one of the "100 Best Living Songwriters" in 2006, and his reputation has only grown over the past decade. NPR deems him "one of the world's best songwriters," effusively praising his ability to connect with a live audience. "Watching Josh Ritter stand on stage and perform," they write, "you get this overwhelming sense of joy." 

Not only is Ritter one of the most important voices in music today, but he’s also the author of The New York Times best-seller Bright’s Passage (Dial Press/Random House, 2011).   Reviewing Ritter's novel for The New York Times Sunday Book Review, Stephen King writes: "Bright’s Passage shines with a compressed lyricism that recalls Ray Bradbury in his prime . . . This is the work of a gifted novelist."

Jamie Quatro - Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 5pm

Jamie Quatro is the author of two books of fiction, Fire Sermon and I Want to Show You More. Often described as a franker, modernized Flannery O'Connor, Jamie Quatro holds an MA in English from the College of William and Mary, and an MFA in fiction from the Bennington College Writing Seminars. Her work has appeared in Tin House, Ploughshares, McSweeney's, The Kenyon Review, VQR, Agni, and elsewhere.  A Contributing Editor at Oxford American, Quatro teaches in the summers-only MFA program at Sewanee, The University of the South, and lives with her husband and four children in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

Stephen Graham Jones - Monday, October 29, 2018, 7pm

Stephen Graham Jones is the author of sixteen novels, six story collections, and one comic book. A genre-bending writer who spans the worlds of experimental fiction, horror, crime and more, he has won an NEA Award, the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Fiction, and the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, among others. This project is supported by a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Roxane Gay - Thursday, September 13, 2018, 6pm

Roxane Gay is one of America’s most beloved writers and cultural critics. She is widely considered the leading feminist voice of our time and her work garners international acclaim for its honesty and ferocity. Her New York Times best-selling books include the essay collections Bad Feminist and Hunger, the novel An Untamed State, short story collections Difficult Women, Ayiti, and many others. Explore with Roxane topics ranging from politics, patriarchy, Beyoncé and reality television in the same sitting. No two Roxane Gay events are the same.

Elizabeth Kolbert - Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 7pm

Elizabeth Kolbert’s most recent book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, won the 2015 nonfiction Pulitzer and is first on the Guardian’s list of the 100 best nonfiction books ever. Her book weaves natural history with reporting in the field about mass extinctions and climate change. While at U.S.A., Kolbert will conduct a one-hour master’s class for current science majors interested in writing on environmentalism and activism for the general public.  At the evening lecture, Kolbert will focus on her book regarding climate change and extinctions by explaining the science, unpacking the politics, and presenting personal tales of those who are being affected most.

Jamaal May - Thursday, March 22, 2018, 5pm

Jamaal May’s book Hum won the Beatrice Hawley Award, the ALA Notable Book Award, and was a finalist for the NAACP Image award. His second collection is The Big Book of Exit Strategies, and he has also published two chapbooks, The God Engine and The Whetting of Teeth. His poetry has appeared in Poetry, The Believer, Ploughshares, New England Review and The Kenyon Review. He has also been a recipient of the Kenyon Review Fellowship at Kenyon College, Bread Loaf, Callaloo and the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship. He is the series editor, graphic designer and filmmaker for the Organic Weapon Arts Chapbook and Video Series. May will meet with advanced poetry students currently enrolled in creative writing at the University of South Alabama and critique their work. He will also give a reading at a local high school on the 22nd.

John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats - Monday, February 26, 2018, 7:30pm

The Stokes Center for Creative Writing and the Independent Music Collective are teaming up for a very special event on Monday, February 26, 2018 at the University of South Alabama. John Darnielle will be the inaugural performer in an exciting new series exploring the intersection of music and literature.  Not only is Darnielle the central figure behind the indie-folk juggernaut the Mountain Goats, but he's also the author of two critically-acclaimed novels: Wolf in White Van, which was longlisted for the National Book Award in 2014, and Universal Harvester, which Kazuo Ishiguro calls "a moving, beautifully etched picture of America’s lost and profoundly lonely."  The event, which will be held in the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center, will feature both a musical performance and a reading.  More...

Michael Knight - Thursday, February 8, 2018, 5pm

Raised in Mobile, Michael Knight’s latest collection, Eveningland, is set amid the streets of Mobile and its surrounding waters. Eveningland has been selected as a New York Times Editor’s Choice and as one of Southern Living’s Southern Books of the Year. Throughout his career, Michael Knight has authored two novels (Divining Rod and The Typist), three collections of short stories (Dogfight and Other Stories, Goodnight, Nobody and Eveningland) and a book of novellas (The Holiday Season). His most recent novel, The Typist, was listed as a Best Book of the Year by Huffington Post and The Kansas City Star and appeared on Oprah’s Summer Reading List. His fiction has appeared in places like The New Yorker, Oxford American, Ploughshares, Saturday Evening Post and The Southern Review. He lives Knoxville with his wife and two daughters and teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee. During his time at U.S.A., Knight will work closely with graduate students currently enrolled in fiction at the University of South Alabama and give a public reading.

Yaa Gyasi - Thursday, November 16, 2017, 7pm

Yaa Gyasi will talk with Charlotte Pence, Director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing, about her book Homegoing (Knopf, 2016) on stage at the Student Center Ballroom. Yaa Gyasi is a Ghanaian-American novelist who moved to Huntsville, Alabama at age ten. Her debut novel Homegoing earned the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for best first book, the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first book, and the National Book Foundation’s "5 under 35" honors for 2016 and the American Book Award.  Homegoing follows two half-sisters who are born into different villages and unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the Cape Coast Castle, the other will be captured, imprisoned in the same castle, and sold into slavery. This story follows the paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations. Yaa Gyasi's novel illuminates slavery's troubled legacy and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.   This event is co-sponsored by the USA Common Read/Common World Program, Jaguar Productions, and USA Academic Affairs.

Sue Brannan Walker - Wednesday, September 27, 2017, 7pm

Professor Emerita Sue Brannan Walker will celebrate the launch of her new poetry book titled Let Us Imagine Her Name (Clemson University Press, 2017). Walker is a former Poet Laureate of Alabama and is professor emerita of English at University of South Alabama where she served as department chair and director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing. She has published over ten books in her career and is also the founder of Negative Capability Press in Mobile. This event is co-sponsored by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.  A reception will follow the reading.