Author Josip Novakovich to Give Reading as Part of UA’s 2006 Bankhead Visiting Writers Series

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. –Author Josip Novakovich will give a reading Thursday, Nov. 16 in 205 Smith Hall at 7:30 p.m., as part of The University of Alabama Bankhead Visiting Writers Series.

Croatian-born Novakovich has published a novel, “April Fool’s Day,” three story collections, two collections of narrative essays, a textbook, “Fiction Writer’s Workshop,” and was anthologized in “Best American Poetry,” “Pushcart Prize” and “O. Henry Prize Stories.” His work has been published in translation in a dozen countries, including Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and Italy.

Novakovich received the Whiting Writer’s Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, the Ingram Merrill Award, an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, and he has been a writing fellow of the New York City Public Library. He teaches in the MFA program at Penn State University.

The reading is free and open to the public.

The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series is made possible by an endowment from the Bankhead Foundation, The University of Alabama’s Program in Creative Writing, the department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, contact UA’s creative writing program at 205/348-0766 or visit http://www.as.ua.edu/english/08_cw/

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Team.