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Please note that the Year of Creative Writers and Festival of Writers have concluded. The website is here for reference or informational purposes.

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Come Celebrate!

Three universities. A host of authors. And a year of perspectives, provocations, ideas, and inspiration supported by the Presidential Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and the Humanities.

Featured Writers

Daniel Borzutzky

Daniel Borzutzky

Poet, Translator
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Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown

Poet, Writer, Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Meagan Cass

Meagan Cass

Fiction Writer, Editor, Associate Professor
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Chris Fink

Chris Fink

Author, Editor, Professor
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Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay

Poet, Writer, Visiting Professor
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Christopher Grimes

Author, Associate Professor
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Janice N. Harrington

Poet, Author, Professor
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Tyehimba Jess

Tyehimba Jess

Poet, Poet-in-Residence, Pulitzer Prize Winner
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Cris Mazza

Cris Mazza

Novelist, Short-Story and Non-Fiction Writer, Professor
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Ander Monson

Ander Monson

Novelist, Poet, Nonfiction Writer
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Aimee Parkison

Aimee Parkison

Author, Professor
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Christina Pugh

Christina Pugh

Poet, Critic, Professor
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Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith

Actress, Playwright, Professor, Author
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Tracy Smith

Tracy K. Smith

Poet Laureate of the United States, Writer, Professor
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David St. John

David St. John

Poet, Professor
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Luis Alberto Urrea

Luis Alberto Urrea

Poet, Novelist, Essayist, Professor
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Sponsors

Presented by the Humanities Research Institute and the Department of English/Creative Writing Program (U of I). Cosponsored by the Institute for the Humanities (UIC), UIC Program for Writers, UIS Creative Writing, The Champaign Public Library, The Urbana Free Library, Illinois Public Radio, and the Illini Union Bookstore.