Category Archives: Books We Like

Miami University Press Poetry Reading by Distinguished Irish Poet & Editor Randolph Healy

When? Thursday, November 14, 2024.6pm.

 Register to attend the Zoom! 


Miami University Press is proud to present a Zoom reading on Thursday, November 14th from 6-7:30PM EST by distinguished Irish poet and editor Randolph Healy, author of books including The Electron-Ghost Casino (Miami University Press, 2024) and Green 532: Selected Poems 1983-2000 (Salt, 2002). 

Healy will be introduced by recent Miami MFA graduate Sean Pierson, author of The Perfect Season (Wild Honey Press, 2024).

Comprising forty-nine units, with a bespoke porch and optional exit through a bestiary, Randolph Healy’s The Electron-Ghost Casino has a décor ranging from the cerebral (all percentiles included) to the earthy. Notes of horror, intimacy, fractured histories, and joy echo from its chambers. Healy is the author of Green 532: Selected Poems 1983-2000 (Salt 2002) and other books and chapbooks celebrated by readers throughout the Anglophone poetry world. This is his first American book publication. Are some of his tunes unfamiliar?  Don’t worry, or do. We may be out of time, but there’s still space. Dance.

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Author Reading & Discussion with Pepper Stetler & Nicholas P. Money – Memoir, Disability Studies & Science Writing.

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Memoir, disability studies, & science writing– please join us for a nonfiction reading by Miami faculty, followed by a Q&A about the craft of creative nonfiction writing!

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Biology professor Nik Money and Art History professor Pepper Stetler will read and discuss their new nonfiction books Thursday, November 7 at 7:30 in Harris Hall 150. 

Stetler’s new book, A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother’s Reckoning with the IQ Test, has been described as “an important and illuminating contribution to disability studies.” (Daisy Hernandez)

Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines: Our Lifelong Relationship with Fungi, by Nicholas Money, showcases, with great humor and deftness, “An amazing tour of the world of fungi–a realm that is more entwined with the lives of humans than we realize.” (Alanna Collen)

Creative Writing faculty TaraShea Nesbit and Margaret Luongo will interview the authors after their readings, followed by a Q&A on the craft of nonfiction writing with the audience. 

Hope to see you there!

More info:

https://events.miamioh.edu/event/author-reading-and-discussion-pepper-stetler-nicholas-money

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Author Bios

Pepper Stetler is a Professor of Art History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and writes extensively on issues facing people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers. She is the author of A Measure of Intelligence: One Mother’s Reckoning with the IQ Test (Diversion Books). Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Slate and other venues.

Nicholas Money is a Professor of Biology and Western Program Director at Miami University. He is an international expert on fungal biology and author of popular science books that celebrate the microbial world including The Rise of Yeast: How the Sugar Fungus Shaped Civilization (Oxford University Press) and Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicine: Our Lifelong Relationship with Fungi (Princeton University Press). His writing is noted for blending first-rate science with stories of human interest. Learn more about Money and his works on his website, www.themycologist.com

Hannah Emerson Poetry Reading

About This Event

Please join the Creative Writing Program in welcoming Hannah Emerson for a Zoom poetry reading on Wednesday, November 29 at 7:30pm. As Hannah is nonspeaking, her work will be read by current and former Miami students and by Aviv Rosenzweig. A Q&A with Hannah will follow, hosted by faculty poet Cathy Wagner.

Hannah Emerson is a nonspeaking autistic poet whose work has been featured in Paris Review, Poetry, The Nation, BOMB, the Poetry Society of America, Literary Hub, and Brooklyn Rail. She is the author of the collection of poems The Kissing of Kissing (2022) from Milkweed’s Multiverse series. She lives in Lafayette, New York.

Hannah’s work will be performed by Aviv Rosenzweig and others. A Q&A with Hannah Emerson will follow, hosted by Professor Cathy Wagner.

The event will be on Zoom. Please register here: 
https://miamioh.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlcuutrD0iGdf1ifzmT4U5ItFsCW3R5L8e

The Importance and Impact of Research on Fictional and Historical Fiction Works

By: Marin Thurmer

Back in November, I was pleased to meet one of Dr. TaraShae Nesbitt’s colleagues from graduate school, Dr. Shena McAuliffe, who currently teaches fiction at Union College in New York and visited Miami university classes and did a reading. Being a creative writing undergrad myself, along with other peers sitting around me, I felt the group’s anticipation to be introduced to McAuliffe’s particular style of research that contributes to her writing, mainly nonfiction and historical fiction works. The book in question: The Good Echo! This narrative doesn’t obey traditional schemes of narration, with the keystone of the work being a posthumous narration from the perspective of a dead son, just twelve years old when he succumbed to an infection in his root canal, which his father performed the fatal surgery on before his death.

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Madman by Tracy Groot Review & Recommendation

By: Alayna Cowden

As a person who, admittedly, shies away from things labeled “historical fiction” and worse, “Christian fiction,” I can’t deny that I felt a little apprehensive in starting this book. Would it be corny and preachy? Would Jesus be portrayed in a way that isn’t accurate or seems pushy?

Hence, it took me a while to muster up the courage to read Madman. Also, I’ve never really read anything that expressly dealt with things like demons or capital “E” Evil, so I had my reservations. However, I was horribly wrong about this book. It defied every expectation I had about what modern literature should do – and more so, what the function of something labeled “Christian fiction” should do.

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Appreciation: Rae Armantrout’s “Bardos,” by Trevor Root

National Poetry Month 2020

Rae Armantrout, a San Diego native famous for her terse, funny, brainy poems, visited Miami to read from her poems last April. Thanks to generous funding from the Clark Capstone Fund, Armantrout was in Oxford for several days to visit classes and meet with students for individual conferences. Author of over ten collections of poetry and a memoir, Armantrout won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award for her 2009 book Versed.

Miami MFA student Trevor Root is a fan of Armantrout’s mercurial, skeptical style. Thanks to Trevor for contributing the following appreciation of Armantrout’s poem “Bardos” to the blog:

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Books We Love: Lady Bird Screenplay

Lady Bird is quite simply the quintessence of adolescence. Written by American actress, writer, and director Greta Gerwig, this screenplay tells the story of a tirelessly working family while exploring the often young and turbulent relationship between mother and daughter. Over the course of 2017 and 2018, it would go on to receive awards for its writing and filmmaking. Gerwig’s script meets, falls short of, and exceeds a number of expectations. Through conflict driven by pure heart and angst, Lady Bird takes us through the obstacles of growing up, only to find peace, identity, and perhaps a dose of wisdom on the other side. Continue reading →