Author Jessica Hagedorn Helps Launch M.F.A. Creative Writing Program
at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus

- Free reading and reception features celebrated author of ‘Dogeaters’ and
endowed professor at Brooklyn Campus on Thursday, February 7 -

Brooklyn, N.Y. - A reading by author Jessica Hagedorn will introduce the new Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus on February 7. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in room HS 107 at Flatbush and Dekalb avenues in downtown Brooklyn from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Hagedorn, newly appointed as the Parsons Family Endowed Professor, will read from her recent works after an introduction by Lewis Warsh, director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at the Brooklyn Campus. A reception will follow.

Born and raised in the Philippines, Hagedorn came to the United States in her early teens. Her novels include “Dream Jungle,” “The Gangster of Love” and “Dogeaters,” for which she was nominated for a National Book Award. She is the editor of “Charlie Chan is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction” and “Charlie Chan is Dead: At Home in the World.” Her recent work in theater includes “Fe in The Desert,” “Stairway to Heaven” and the stage adaptation of “Dogeaters.”

A resident of the West Village in New York City, Hagedorn has received honors and prizes that include the 2006 Lucille Lortel Playwright’s Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fiction Fellowship, and an NEA-TCG Playwriting Residency Fellowship. She has taught creative writing in M.F.A. programs at Columbia University, New York University and the Yale School of Drama.

The M.F.A. in Creative Writing program at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus offers writers the opportunity to work in a vibrant community with visiting authors who have included Thulani Davis and Akilah Oliver. Students can pursue projects in fiction, poetry and across genres; elective courses are also offered in playwriting, screenwriting, translation and autobiography. The links between writing and theory and between writing, reading, music and painting are closely explored. The intimate learning environment provides easy access to faculty members, intensive mentoring and individualized programming.

For more information about the program, call (718) 488-1011 or visit www.brooklyn.liu.edu/depts/english/graduate_MFA.htm.

Posted: February 4, 2008

Media contact: (718) 488-1015