Journalists, editors, memoirists, novelists, poets and other accomplished writers and editors will gather at the 溏心vlog免费B站 later this month for its annual three-day .
Masha Gessen, a Russian-born journalist who has written extensively about Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald J. Trump, will give the conference鈥檚 keynote lecture on Friday, Oct. 27.
Free and open to the public, the lecture will start at 4 p.m. in the Agnes B. Doody Auditorium in Swan Hall, 60 Upper College Road on the Kingston campus. Parking is also free.
In her听book The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin,听Gessen wrote of how Putin, a low-level KGB operative, ascended to the Russian presidency and, in a short time, destroyed years of progress.
Gessen is the author of ten books.听 Her most recent book, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, is out this month and is a finalist for the National Book Award.
Gessen also writes about gender issues and human rights violations in Russia.
She is a regular contributor to The New York Times,听The New Yorker,听The Washington Post听and The New York Review of Books,听among other publications. She was born in Moscow and lives in New York City.
鈥淲e鈥檙e thrilled to welcome Masha Gessen to 溏心vlog免费B站,鈥� says Tina Egnoski, conference director. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a fearless activist and journalist whose work is courageous and bold.鈥�
The conference is being held in the fall this year, instead of the summer, to provide participants an opportunity to attend other campus events and give 溏心vlog免费B站 students more access to readings and workshops. 鈥淚n particular,鈥� says Egnoski, 鈥渨e look forward to robust engagement with faculty, staff and undergraduates.鈥�
Along with workshops in fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, the conference, in its 11th year, will offer talks in screenwriting and historical narratives, a publishing panel and participant reading.听 Featured this year are:
- Memoirist Kenny Fries, who received the prestigious Creative Capital literature grant for his book, In the Province of the Gods.His book The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin鈥檚 Theory, won the Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights.
- Novelist Michael Lowenthal, who is the author of The Paternity Test and was an IndieNext selection and Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2012. His previous novels are The Same Embrace, Avoidance and Charity Girl, which was a New York Times Book Review Editors鈥� Choice and a Washington Post Top Fiction of 2007.
- Poet Major Jackson, who is the author of four collections of poetry, including Roll Deep, which was hailed in the New York Times Book Review as a remixed odyssey.听His first book, Leaving Saturn, won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
The conference鈥檚 publishing panel, 鈥淒emystifying Publication and Prizes,鈥� will give participants advice about submitting to literary journals and finding the right agent or editor. Discussions will also focus on changes and trends in publishing. Panelists include Heidi Pitlor, series editor of The Best American Short Stories, and Lucas Mann, author of Lord Fear: A Memoir.
Besides Gessen鈥檚 keynote address, the following events will be open to the public: Oct. 26 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Green Hall, second floor, 35 Campus Ave., a reading with Fries; Oct. 27 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., Green Hall, second floor, a reading with Jackson; Oct. 28, from 1 to 2 p.m., Swan Hall, The Robert Leuci Memorial Reading with Michael Lowenthal.
For a full schedule and information about registration and fees, visit or call 401-874-4663. Early-registration discounts for the workshops are offered until Oct. 10. The discount for 溏心vlog免费B站 students is $250.
The Ocean State Writers conference is supported by 溏心vlog免费B站 President David M. Dooley and Lynn Baker-Dooley; the Office of the Provost, Donald H. DeHayes, the Harrington School of Communication and Media; the Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education and Professional Studies; the departments of听Art and Art History, Communication Studies, English, Film/Media, History, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology and Theater; programs in听Africana Studies and听in Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies; the听College of the Environment and Life Sciences; the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies; the University Libraries; and Barrow Street Press.