News Renowned Poets To Launch Hartwick’s 2021–22 Visiting Writers Series

Hartwick College students will once again have the opportunity to engage professional, working writers when the College kicks off its annual Visiting Writers Series next month.

Poet Roger W. Hecht and Poet/Essayist Su Cho are slated to read from their work, and meet and offer insights to students and members of the Hartwick community this semester.

“The Visiting Writers Series offers students an excellent opportunity for exposure to the larger world of writing beyond the classroom,” said Associate Professor of English Bradley J. Fest. “Hearing writers read their work in person gives students an insight into the living, breathing people behind the poems and stories we read in the classroom. The series allows students to see professional writers at work and to envision themselves as working writers.”

Hecht will read on Wednesday, October 13, at 7 p.m. in Eaton Lounge, Bresee Hall, on the College campus.

Poet Bertha Rogers calls Hecht, “a poet unafraid to look at everyday life in the eye and tell the truth of it, in precise and elegant language.” Poet and Hartwick College Professor Emeritus Robert Bensen says Hecht’s poems, “create and shape a better, clearer vision.” A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Hecht’s work has appeared in Denver Quarterly, Yes, Poetry, Puerto del Sol, The Piltdown Review, Diagram, and many other journals. He is an associate professor of English at SUNY Oneonta, where he teaches literature and creative writing. For more on Hecht’s work, visit his blog.

Cho will present on Wednesday, November 10, at 7 p.m. in Eaton Lounge, Bresee Hall.

Cho is a poet and essayist living in Lancaster, PA, where she is a visiting assistant professor of English at Franklin & Marshall College. Her debut poetry collection, Symmetry of Fish, won the 2021 National Poetry Series and is forthcoming from Penguin. She was a finalist for the 2020 Ruth Lilly & Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship and currently serves as consulting editor for POETRY magazine after serving as guest editor. For more on Cho, visit her on Twitter @su__cho or visit suchowrites.com.

Admission to the readings is free and the events are open to the public. Attendees and all campus visitors must be vaccinated for COVID-19 and will be required to provide either their vaccination card or the New York State Excelsior Pass. Any visitor requiring an exception to this requirement must complete this form and receive prior approval from the College. Masks are required in all College buildings.

The readings are presented by the Department of English and the Visiting Writers Series at Hartwick College.

For more information, visit the Series website or contact Fest at festb@hartwick.edu or (607) 431-4921.