University Times

Merle Collins, novelist and poet, will open the third season of the Pittsburgh contemporary writers series, part of Pitt's writing program.

The series will feature poets, novelists, journalists and an African-American theatre panel, starting with Collins on Sept. 20, 8:15 p.m., in 125 Frick Fine Arts auditorium.

Collins is the author of two poetry collections, "Because the Dawn Breaks" and "Rotten Pomerack"; the novels "Angel" and "The Colour of Forgetting"; and a short story collection, "Rain Darling." She is associate professor of creative writing at the University of Maryland.

This year the English department and Africana studies are hosting contemporary writers series events focused on African-American literature and culture of the Diaspora.

"The writers series and the literature program are co-sponsoring a departmental colloquium entitled African-American Writing in the Academy and Other Public Places," said Lynn Emanuel, coordinator of the Pittsburgh contemporary writers series and director of Pitt's writing program. "The culmination will be a reading by three notable African-American writers and critics: science fiction writer Samuel Delany and poets Nathaniel Mackey and Lorenzo Thomas," she said.

The Pittsburgh contemporary writers series is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Wyndham Garden Hotel-University Place, The Book Center, the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, the Department of Africana Studies, the women's studies program, the Center for Latin American Studies, the East Asian studies program, the University of Pittsburgh Press, the creative nonfiction program, the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures and the University Honors College.

The series is free and open to the public. All readings begin at 8:15 p.m. In addition to Merle Collins, featured writers are:

*Oct. 26: Adria Bernardi, author of "In the Gathering Woods," which won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; also Frank Conroy, prize judge and author of "Body and Soul" and "Stop-Time." 125 Frick Fine Arts auditorium.

*Nov. 2: David Lehman, author of "The Daily Mirror: A Journal in Poetry," and several books of criticism. 125 Frick Fine Arts auditorium.

*Jan. 18: Lorenzo Thomas, author of "The Bathers" and "Chances Are Few"; Samuel Delany, author of "Flight From Neveryon" and "Atlantis"; and Nathaniel Mackey, author of "Eroding Witness." 125 Frick Fine Arts auditorium.

*Feb. 21: Jane Kramer, author of "The Politics of Memory" and staff writer for The New Yorker. 125 Frick Fine Arts auditorium.

*March 15: Marilyn Chin, author of poetry collections, "The Phoenix Gone" and "The Terrace Empty." 125 Frick Fine Arts auditorium.

*March 20: John McPhee, author of "Coming Into the Country" and "Basin and Range." 120 David Lawrence Hall.

*April 4: Sandra Cisneros, author of "The House on Mango Street." 120 David Lawrence Hall.

*April 16: Artists and Influence: A Panel of African-American Theater, with author James Hatch, "Black Theater USA"; critic Woodie King Jr., "National Black Drama Anthology"; journalist Shauneille Perry, "Black Playwrights of the Twentieth Century"; and playwright Elizabeth Van Dyke, "Love to All, Lorraine." 120 David Lawrence Hall.