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New Orleans Novelist and Jazz Critic
Tom Piazza reads from his post-Katrina
novel, City of Refuge.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Performing Arts Center, Room 215
7:00 p.m.
For more info call 516.877.4020
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Tom Piazza's Why New Orleans Matters was the book that defined New Orleanians’ response to Hurricane Katrina and its devastation of the people and culture of that great city. Now his novel explores this turning point in American culture. Like John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, it sounds complex chords of race, class, culture, and regional identity, but always through the double helix of these two families' lives. Piazza’s characters will live in readers’ minds and hearts, and their encounter with the storm will confront us all with raw truths about our nation and ourselves. Rich with emotional insight and unforgettable scenes, it will challenge, and deeply move, every reader.
A Long Island native, Piazza is the author of nine books, including the novel My Cold War, and the book-length post-Katrina essay Why New Orleans Matters. He has been awarded the James Michener Award for Fiction and the Faulkner Society Award for the Novel, among many other honors. A well known writer on American music as well, he won a 2004 Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey. He lives in New Orleans.
Additional information about City of Refuge:
Graduating M.F.A. students in dramatic writing heard their full-length thesis play read by professional actors in front of an audience on Friday, May 16, 2008.
The Works-in-Progress Reading Series provides a salon-style setting where students and faculty present new work and share the artist's experience beyond the classroom. Held monthly, this series provides an excellent opportunity for students to share new work in a non-academic setting, as well as to learn about faculty members artistic projects.
Works are presented and read aloud by the author, followed by a reception and informal discussion of each piece. Led by both a professor and a student, the ongoing series is open to all students and faculty.
For more information on the New Works-In-Progress Reading Series, please contact Professor Lahney Preston at prestonmatto@adelphi.edu.
The Don Axinn Awards in Creative Writing recognize the exceptional talents of our students. Established by Don Axinn, a poet, novelist, and filmmaker, these annual monetary awards are given in the areas of poetry, playwriting, and fiction.
A leader in the Long Island business community, Don Axinn is an active participant in the University and the English department. He has taught a master class and screened his film Spin on campus. These awards represent his continuing interest in supporting student writing by funding merit-based prizes.
Each year the recipients of the three monetary awards are chosen by leading figures in their discipline. Guest judges have included:
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2008:
- Amy Gerstler, Poet
- Alice Mattison, Novelist
- Leslie Lee, Playwright
2007:
- Jacqueline Johnson, Poet
- Martha Sounthgate, Novelist
- Daniella Topol, Associate Artistic Director of The Lark Play Development Center
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2006:
- Wayne Koestenbaum, Poet
- Jeffrey Renard Allen, Novelist
- Gus Edwards, Playwright
2005:
- Steven Cramer, Poet
- Brian Bouldrey, Novelist
- Elizabeth Bennett, Literary Manager
of Second Stage Theater, NY
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Contact
For additional information, please contact:
M.F.A. Program
Harvey Hall, Room 215
p - 516.877.4044
e - mfa@adelphi.edu
This page last modified on September 10, 2008.
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