"Richmond Noir" authors to read at William & Mary
Five noted authors with ties to the College of William & Mary will read selections from a collaborative new effort entitled “Richmond Noir” on Thursday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m. The readings, which are free and open to the public, will take place in room 201 of the College’s Tyler Hall, 300 James Blair Drive.
The event, which will be followed by a wine and cheese reception with the authors, is presented by the College’s Patrick Hayes Writer’s Series.
Former writers-in-residence Tom DeHaven (2008-09), who also served as one of the book’s three editors, and David L. Robbins (2007-08) will be joined by W&M Associate Professor of English Hermine Pinson, alumna Meagan Saunders, ’09, and Clay McLeod Chapman.
“The College has a strong creative writing program, enhanced by two additional programs: our annual Scott and Vivien Donaldson Writer-in-Residence position, and our Patrick Hayes Writer's Series,” said Professor Nancy Schoenberger, director of Creative Writing at W&M. “Richmond Noir brings these programs together by featuring two of our many distinguished writers-in-residence, novelists Tom De Haven and David L. Robbins. With these and other notable visiting writers, students benefit from a first-hand look at what the writing life entails. We are fortunate to attract major writers to our program, and our students flock to these special classes.”
“Richmond Noir,” the latest in a series of original noir anthologies begun in 2004 by Akashic Books, features the work of 15 authors. It has received exemplary reviews, including from RVAmag’s S. Preston Duncan, who wrote “Richmond Noir touches on something unattainable by a singular author. Its collection of diverse voices, interests, period pieces, present-day reflections, architectural insights, cultural commentary, and the pervasive sense of mortality that characterizes an urbania so bound to inherited nostalgia, capture the indefinable nature of what it is to live in Richmond.”
Wrote a reviewer on Amazon.com: “The stories contained within this volume are great, grimy gems that illuminate the under-side of this town . . . It's a great collection put together by people as passionate about literature as they are about noir. . . These stories pack a lunch, and in that lunch they pack punches instead of chips.”
Chapman, who was called “the literary descendant of Edgar Allan Poe” by Time Out New York in 2003, will read from his “The Battle of Belle Isle.”
Robbins will read from “Homework.”
DeHaven will read from “Playing with DaBlonde.” Pinson will read from “Mr. Not.” Saunders will read from “Untitled.”
For more information, contact Professor Nancy Schoenberger at 757-221-2439 or njscho@wm.edu.
