Author Panel: What's New in the MFA Program at Stony Brook Manhattan

Come listen to a reading by new faculty at Stony Brook's MFA program, and by faculty with new books out! You'll hear work by Karen Bender, Alison Fairbrother, Eskor Johnson, Robert Lopez, Susan Minot and Dawnie Walton. Enjoy a great reading from a great program!

Karen E. Bender is the author of the story collections The New Order and Refund, a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Fiction. She is also the author of the novels Like Normal People and A Town of Empty Rooms. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, Ploughshares, and other magazines. Her stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, and New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, and have won three Pushcart prizes. She lives in Brooklyn with her family. Find out more at karenebender.com.

Alison Fairbrother is the author of the novel The Catch, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a People magazine “Best New Book.” She is a lecturer in creative writing at Stony Brook University, and is the co-director of BookEnds, a yearlong novel revision fellowship. She was previously an associate editor at Riverhead Books, where she worked with New York Times bestselling and award winning authors.

Eskor David Johnson is a writer from Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. He lives in New York City.

Robert Lopez is the author of eight books, of which the most recent are Dispatches From Puerto Nowhere and The Best People. He teaches at Stony Brook University.

Susan Minot is an award-winning novelist, short-story writer, poet, and screenwriter. Her first novel, Monkeys, was published in a dozen countries and won the Prix Femina Étranger in France. Her novel Evening was a worldwide best seller and became a major motion picture. She lives in New York City and on an island off the coast of Maine.

Dawnie Wilton is the author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, winner of the 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the Audie Award for Fiction. Her debut novel was also longlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction, and named one of the best books of 2021 by The Washington Post, NPR, and former U.S. President Barack Obama. She is the cofounder and editorial director of Ursa Story Company, an audio production venture celebrating underrepresented voices, and co-hosts its podcast dedicated to the art of short fiction. Formerly an editor at Essence and Entertainment Weekly, she is an assistant professor of creative writing at Stony Brook University, and is working on her second novel. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

[ABOUT THIS EVENT: The rear half of the store will be used exclusively for this event. The front bar will be open to the public for drinking & chatting. Book browsing will be limited to a few display tables and shelves closest to the front of the store.]

Host or Publisher Book Club Bar