Hayes Writers Series
Each year, the English Department invites contemporary, professional writers from all genres to visit the campus and share their work and experience as part of the Hayes Writers Series. Public events are held throughout the academic year.
In 1991 the College received funds from the estate of Patrick Hayes to create an endowment supporting a festival for writers. In recent years the festival has evolved into a series, with several events held during the academic year.
Writers sponsored in part by the Patrick Hayes Endowment include:
2023-24
Nancy Schoenberger, Helon Habila, Jas Hammonds, David Gunton, Tim Seibles
2022-23
David Mills, Lauren K. Alleyne, Paul Hendrickson, Laura Warrell, Hernan Diaz
2021-22
Reggie Williams, Nicola Barker, Jung Hae Chae, Ye Chun, Michael X. Wang
2020-21
Tracy K. Smith, Garth Greenwell, Asako Serizawa, Terrance Hayes, Laura Sims, Ted Chiang, Alicia Mountain (all appearing virtually)
2019-20
Hernan Diaz, Allison Titus, Emily Pease, Estella Conwill Majozo, Davy Rothbart, Laura Sims (postponed due to pandemic), Tracy K. Smith (postponed due to pandemic)
2018-19
Lorrie Moore, Elizabeth Spires, X.C. Atkins, Michele Poulos, Gregory Donovan, Jenny Offill, Patricia Smith
2017-18
Brenda Marie Osbey, Shonda Buchanan, Charles Wright, Peter Bonerz, Tess Taylor, David Eye, Kelly Link, Steve Kistulentz, (Dean Turner, Kelvin Belton, David Coogan- Writing Our Way Out Reading)
2016-17
Jace Clayton, Amy Hempel, Edwidge Danticat, Richard Lucyshyn, Jack Christian, Sharon Olds, Eddy Harris
2015-16
Lucy Corin, Anne Beattie, Andrew Zawacki, Allen Jih, Nicole Georges, Shonda Buchanan, William Finnegan
2014-15
Sofia Starnes, Steven Millhauser, Jamie Quatro, Roxane Gay, Debra Nystrom, Walter Mosley.
2013-14
Tyehimba Jess, Quincy Troupe, Justin Torres, Elizabeth Winder '03, Catherine Bowman, Claudia Emerson. About the 2013-14 series
2012-13
Rosalind Brackenbury, David Wojahn, John Jeremiah Sullivan, George Saunders, Tim O’Brien, Steve Kistulentz ’91, Rebecca Lindenberg ’00. About the 2012-13 series.
2011-12
Joshua Poteat, Robert Mezey, Thulani Davis, Kevin Young, Jayne Cortez, Rita Dove, Cheston Knapp. About the 2011-12 series.
2010-11
Alexander McCall Smith, Frances Washburn, Bob Hicok, Joanne Gabbin, Terese Svoboda, Hilary Holladay, Roz Brackenbury, Kirsten Holmstedt
2009-10
Blake Bailey, Scott Donaldson, Carol Sklenika, Rodes Fishburne, Michael Radford, E. Ethelbert Miller, Tara Betts, Tom De Haven, Hermine Pinson, David L. Robbins, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Meagan Saunders
2008-09
Tom De Haven, Henry Hart, Tom Heacox, Emily Pease, Ava Coibion, Lee Alexander
2007-08
Junot Díaz, David L. Robbins
2006-07
Rosalind Brackenbury, Christopher Bram, Oni Buchanan, Scott Donaldson, M. L. Liebler, Madge McKeithen, Maurice Riordan, Charles Simic, Giovanni Singleton
2005-06
Ian Caldwell, Adam Haslett, Brian Henry, Josephine Humphreys, Edward P. Jones, Jenna Krajeski, Michael Mott, Gregory Orr, James Tate
2004-05
A. S. Byatt, Gordon Ball, Henri Cole, Li-Young Lee, Rebecca Lilly, Laura Sims, Brian Waniewski
2003-04
Michael Ondaatje, Billy Collins
2002-03
Yusef Komunyakaa
2001-02
John Edgar Wideman, Seamus Heaney
Writers previously brought to campus by the Patrick Hayes Endowment include novelists Allan Gurganus, Richard Bausch, Madison Smartt Bell, Paul Russell,Tom Disch; poets Allen Ginsberg, Diane Ackerman, Mark Strand, Amiri Baraka, Charles Wright, Agha Shahid Ali, Toi Derricotte, Dana Gioia, Elizabeth Spires; playwrights Ntozake Shange and Cassandra Medley; biographers Scott Donaldson, Judith Thurman, Brad Gooch, Esther Lanigan; and faculty writers Joanne Braxton, Henry Hart, Hermine Pinson, and Nancy Schoenberger.
