Next Week! Thursday, September 25 at 6 pm. Jeff Zentner reads at Aquinas College!
The first author of this year's Contemporary Writers Series, Jeff Zentner, will read from his work on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the Kretschmer Recital Hall in the Art & Music Center.
This event is free and open to the public. Free parking is available in the Fulton Street lot.
Jeff Zentner is the author of New York Times Notable Books The Serpent King and In the Wild Light, as well as Goodbye Days, Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee, Colton Gentry's Third Act, and Sunrise Nights, coauthored with Brittany Cavallaro. Among other honors, he has won the ALA’s William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award twice, the Muriel Becker Award, the International Literacy Association Award, and been longlisted twice for the Carnegie Medal. His books have been translated into fifteen languages and been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and in Vanity Fair and People Magazine. Kirkus Reviews named The Serpent King one of the best books of the 21st Century. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry.
AQ Contemporary Writers Series
The Contemporary Writers' Series invites prominent, nationally acclaimed writers to campus to present their work. "We are really pleased to be able to do this."
Thanks to a generous grant from Dr. Tony Foster ('73) and his wife Linda Nemec Foster ('72), Aquinas College inaugurated an annual series of readings by well-known authors in 1997. The idea for funding the series started about 1992 when Linda, herself a published and well-known poet, remembered her student days at Aquinas and thought how much she would have benefitted from having writers visit cam
We're excited to announce our authors for the 29th season of the Contemporary Writers Series, with the theme:
Sowing Stories: Seeds, Ideas, Tales (Nature writing)
September 25, 2025: Jeff Zentner
November 6, 2025: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
March 26, 2026: Christopher Merrill
All authors speak at 6:00 pm in the Kretschmer Recital Hall in Aquinas's Arts and Music Building. The events are free and open to the public.
Free parking is available in the Fulton Street lot.
Information about each author is below:
Jeff Zentner is the author of New York Times Notable Books The Serpent King and In the Wild Light, as well as Goodbye Days, Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee, Colton Gentry's Third Act, and Sunrise Nights, coauthored with Brittany Cavallaro. Among other honors, he has won the ALA’s William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award twice, the Muriel Becker Award, the International Literacy Association Award, and been longlisted twice for the Carnegie Medal. His books have been translated into fifteen languages and been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and in Vanity Fair and People Magazine. Kirkus Reviews named The Serpent King one of the best books of the 21st Century. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. He lives in Nashville.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the book of food essays Bite By Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees and the New York Times best-selling illustrated collection of nature essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks & Other Astonishments. She also wrote five previous poetry collections including Night Owl and Oceanic. Her most recent chapbook is Lace & Pyrite, a collaboration of epistolary garden poems with the poet Ross Gay. Honors include a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pushcart Prize, a Mississippi Arts Council grant, NAAEE’s 2024 Pepe Marcos-Iga Award for Innovation in Environmental Education, and being named a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry. She is poetry editor for Sierra magazine, the story-telling arm of The Sierra Club. She is professor of English and Creative Writing in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.
Christopher Merrill has published eight collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets, and On the Road to Lviv; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, and The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War. His writings have been translated into nearly forty languages; his journalism appears widely; his honors include a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, numerous translation awards, and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial and Ingram Merrill Foundations. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries. He served on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO from 2011-2018, and in April 2012 President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities.
03/24/2025
THIS THURSDAY, March 27!
As the final author of our "Engaging a Beautiful Mind: Writing and Mental Health" series, Amanda will read from her work and discuss mental health issues.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1ASfQCagYX/
03/17/2025
NEXT WEEK!!! Thursday, March 27.
03/09/2025
Amanda Stern is coming to Aquinas!
See her read from her work on Thursday, March 27 at 6 pm in the AMC Kretschmer Recital Hall.
Book signing afterwards!
02/18/2025
TOMORROW! Wednesday, February 19 at 6 pm!
✒️ AQ Writes Presents: Linda Nemec Foster ✒️
AQ Writes is an annual event that showcases writing talent on campus. This year, we are pleased to welcome Linda Nemec Foster, acclaimed poet, alumna, and founder of the Contemporary Writers Series!
Linda has published fourteen poetry collections, including The Lake Huron Mermaid, The Blue Divide, and many others. She has been nominated for 20 book awards including the Pulitzer Prize. View her Amazon profile and website to explore her work.
Her presentation will take place on Zoom at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 19. You can find the Zoom link on the AQ Calendar Event, HERE: https://www.aquinas.edu/calendar/index.html -details/9631b7e7-84c2-412a-b552-8942d912d22b
We can’t wait to see you there!
01/23/2025
Mark your Calendars! Our annual AQ Writes event, which highlights Aquinas writers, will feature AQ Alumna and poet Linda Nemec Foster.
It will be held on Wednesday, February 19 at 6 pm via Zoom.
We're excited to announce our line-up for next year's series, which focuses on nature writing:
September 25, 2025: Jeff Zentner (YA)
November 6, 2025: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
March 26, 2026: Christopher Merrill
All events start at 6 pm and are held in the AQ Kretschmer Recital Hall.
Free and open to the public.
Free parking is available in the Sturrus Lot off of Fulton Street
Stay tuned for more information!
Attention AQ Writers!
The Annual Writers Mass will be at 12:15 pm on THIS Friday, January 24, the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers.
All members of our writing community (that's you!) are welcome!
Click here to claim your Sponsored Listing.
Location
Category
Contact the school
Address
Grand Rapids, MI
49506