Women Writers Series: Ann Beattie & Ellen Akins

We kick this year’s Women Writers Series off with distinguished authors Ann Beattie and Ellen Akins.

Ann Beattie’s first published short story appeared in the New Yourker 25 years ago. To date she has authored six novels and six collections of short stories. She will read from her latest work, Park City, a collection of 26 short stories spanning three decades. Publisher’s Weekly calls Park City “…a generous, very welcome volume…from one of the most influential masters of the form.” Park City captures the ambiance of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s: people on the move, smoking dope, dying young, getting jobs, setting down, splitting up, coming to terms and looking back: Beattie teaches at the university of Virginia at Charlottesville, as well as at Harvard as the Briggs-Copeland lecturer.

Ellen Akins is author of the novels Public Life, Home Movie, Little Woman, and a collection of short stories, World Like a Knife. She will be reading from her latest novel, Hometown Brew, described by Booklist as “thought provoking and devious: It is a rich novel of family, corporate maneuvers and sexual intrigue set Rensselaer, WI. It weaves together the lives of two women, a brewery, and the personal politics of small-town life. Akins has been the recipient of grants from the NEA and the Ingram Meril Foundation, an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Whiting Writer’s Award.