Award-winning author Jamel Brinkley will give a reading at the Corvallis Museum at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, as part of Oregon State University’s Visiting Writers Series.

The reading will be free with no registration required, and will be followed by a book signing, according to the event’s webpage.

The event is sponsored by OSU’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. According to Elena Passarello, the MFA program’s director, about three writers with national or international reputations are invited each year to have a session with students and give a reading.  

“We definitely are interested in writers that are interesting to our students,” Passarello said. “We have writers coming in from all over the world, and they have their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in fiction, nonfiction and poetry, so we try to find writers that match their energy and their spirit.” 

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"Witness: Stories" by Jamel Brinkley. Grass Roots will be selling books at the event.

Brinkley’s 2018 book “A Lucky Man: Stories” was a finalist for that year’s National Book award. His most recent book, 2023’s “Witness: Stories,” won last year’s Maya Angelou Book Award out of a field of 150 submissions, according to the award’s website.

“The fiction faculty was particularly excited to invite Jamel because of his success in the short story,” Passarello said. “That’s really Jamel’s form … all of his honors and accolades have been about his mastery of the American short story.”  

Brinkley, who grew up in Brooklyn and the Bronx in New York, is currently an assistant professor in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, according to the University of Iowa website. The workshop is the university’s graduate program for Creative Writing.

According to Passarello, readings usually involve the writer reading their work for between 20 and 30 minutes. Beforehand, an introducer will tell the audience about the writer’s work to familiarize them, and a Q and A session takes place afterwards.

“It’s a really cool opportunity to have a conversation with a prominent fiction writer,” Passarello said. 

Grass Roots Books and Music, a sponsor of the event, will be selling books at the reading, according to their website.

Elisa Gabbert, a poet, essayist and critic will be the next writer to take part in the Visiting Writers Series. Gabbert will give a reading on April 4, in a collaboration between the Visiting Writers Series and a new program funded in memory of former OSU professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Bernard Malamud. 

Later in the year, Julia Malye and Zoë Bossiere, both graduates of OSU’s MFA in Creative Writing program, will give a reading on May 16, according to Passarello.

“It’s a real community event, and we welcome undergraduates,” Passarello said. “It’s a real highlight of the college experience to hear an internationally-renowned writer read.”