Penn's Kelly Writers House Hosts Three Pulitzer Winners
PennNews
January 11, 2002
PHILADELPHIA -- Three Pulitzer Prize winners have been named Kelly Writers House Fellows for the spring semester at the University of Pennsylvania.
They are Michael Cunningham, a novelist and short story writer, poet John Ashbery, and playwright Charles Fuller.
Cunningham will be on the Penn campus Feb. 11-12, followed by Ashbery on March 25-26 and Fuller on April 15-16.
The purpose of the Fellows program is to offer undergraduate students the opportunity to interact with noted authors in an intimate setting.
Cunningham received the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award, both for "The Hours." His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Redbook, Esquire, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Vogue and Metropolitan Home. His story "White Angel" was chosen for "Best American Short Stories 1989."
Ashbery is the author of 20 books of poetry, including "A Wave," which won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror," which received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award.
Fuller attracted critical attention in 1969 with his play "The Perfect Party." He has received a number of fellowships and awards for his plays "Zooman and the Sign" and "A Soldier's Play," for which he became the second African-American playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize. Fuller is also the co-founder and co-director of the Afro-American Arts Theatre in Philadelphia.
During the visit of each Fellow, a reading/presentation will take place on Monday at 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday at 10 a.m. Writers House will host a brunch followed by a one-hour interview/conversation. Reservations are necessary.
The Tuesday morning programs will be webcast live worldwide. To participate from a distance in the webcast, write to whfellow@english.upenn.edu.