English Readings and Events

We invite you to attend readings and events hosted by the Department of English Language and Literature each semester. If you would like to receive reminders and updates on readings and other creative writing events, please subscribe to our listserv by sending an email with "subscribe cwrite" in the body of the message.

Faculty Reading Series

Join us for readings by CMU English department faculty members each semester.

Meijer Visiting Writers Series

Founded through a gift from the Meijer Foundation, the Meijer Visiting Writers Series hosts readings each semester. You can view videos of past readings on our Creative Writing Facebook page.

Annual Leaves of Grass marathon reading

Each fall, we invite the community to join us from sunrise through the afternoon in the Fabiano Botanical Garden next to Park Library for our annual marathon reading of Walt Whitman's classic Leaves of Grass. All are welcome to take turns reading or just listen and enjoy hearing others read.

Wellspring Literary Series

Founded and facilitated by Robert Fanning, CMU Professor of Creative Writing; since 2009 the Wellspring Literary Series has provided a forum for the Mt. Pleasant and Central Michigan University community to hear the work of established and emerging regional writers. The Wellspring Literary Series has become a destination venue for Michigan writers and poets from around the state to share their work here in Mount Pleasant with a large, receptive audience. In addition to providing a space to hear some of Michigan's best writers, the series also provides opportunities for CMU writing students to read their works-in-progress in public alongside these prominent authors. The Wellspring Literary Series also features music performed by students and faculty members from the CMU School of Music, as well as local Musicians. All readings are free and open to the public and take place at the Art Reach of Mid Michigan, located at 111 E. Broadway in downtown Mt. Pleasant. Readings are generally held on the first or second Monday of every month, except in the case of holidays or scheduling conflicts. Refreshments are served, courtesy of Max and Emily's Eatery. For the latest updates, further details, or inquiries, email Robert Fanning or visit the Wellspring Literary Series website.

Spring 2025 events and readings

Thurs., Feb. 20

“Faculty Favorites” Series
7 p.m. at Art Reach of Mid Michigan (111 E. Broadway, Mount Pleasant)

Dr. Mark Freed and Dr. Nate Smith will discuss favorite passages from Italo Calvino’s The Castle of Crossed Destinies and Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. 

Thurs., Feb. 27

The CMICH Press Summit Series Presents: A Reading by Stephanie Carpenter
7 p.m. at the Park Library, Opperman Auditorium

Stephanie Carpenter is the author of the novel Moral Treatment, inaugural winner of the Summit Series Prize from Central Michigan University Press. Her first book, Missing Persons: Stories, won the 2017 Press 53 Award in Short Fiction. Her work has been published in journals including Copper Nickel, Ecotone, The Missouri Review, Big Fiction, Crab Orchard Review, and Witness. 

A native of Traverse City, Michigan, Stephanie earned a BA in English from Williams College, an MFA in Fiction from Syracuse University, and a PhD in English with Creative Writing emphasis from the University of Missouri. She’s been awarded research fellowships from the American Antiquarian Society and the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, as well as a Tennessee Williams Scholarship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Stephanie is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Michigan Technological University. She lives with her partner Tim and their delightful cats in Hancock, Michigan.

Mon., March 3

The Wellspring Literary Series Presents: A Reading by LINDA NEMEC FOSTER
7 p.m. at Art Reach of Mid Michigan (111 E. Broadway, Mount Pleasant)

Linda Nemec Foster has published 14 collections of poetry including Amber Necklace from Gdansk, Talking Diamonds, The Blue Divide, Bone Country, and The Lake Michigan Mermaid (with Anne-Marie Oomen and Meridith Ridl, 2019 Michigan Notable Book). Her work appears in numerous magazines and journals such as The Georgia Review, Nimrod, New American Writing, North American Review, Indiana Review, Quarterly West, Verse Daily, and others. Two of her recent books, Bone Country and The Blue Divide, were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. The inaugural Poet Laureate of Grand Rapids, Michigan (2003-05), Foster is the founder of the Contemporary Writers Series at Aquinas College.

Thurs., March 20

The Meijer Visiting Writers Series presents: A Reading by Jen Fawkes
7 p.m. in the Bovee U.C. Rotunda

Jen Fawkes is the author of Daughters of Chaos, a literary alternate history in which a female Union spy discovers a secret society of magical women that spans millennia. Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link called Daughters of Chaos "ferociously, radiantly compelling," and according to Publishers Weekly's starred review, the novel is a "dazzling historical fantasy . . . both the historical and fantastical elements come alive in Sylvie’s suspenseful narration, which is interwoven with the text of the imaginary play. Fawkes wows with this wildly original tale.”

Jen's first book, Mannequin and Wife, was a 2020 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee, the winner of the 2023 Phillip H. McMath Post-Publication Book Award, and a Foreword INDIES gold medalist. Her collection Tales the Devil Told Me was a Foreword INDIES silver medalist, one of Largehearted Boy’s Favorite Collections of 2021, and a finalist for the 2022 World Fantasy Award for Single-Author Story Collection. Jen lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Mon., April 7

The Wellspring Literary Series Presents: A Reading by Alise Alousi
7 p.m. at Art Reach of Mid Michigan (111 E. Broadway, Mount Pleasant)

Alise Alousi’s poetry collection, What to Count, was published in August 2023 by Wayne State University Press. Her writing has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Three Fold Press, Mom Egg Review, The Detroit Free Press, Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry and We Call to the Eye and the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Descent. She is a 2019 Kresge Literary Arts Fellow and has received awards and fellowships from the Knight Foundation, Mesa Refuge, Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and others. She has worked at InsideOut Literary Arts in Detroit for two decades and currently teaches poetry through the Arab American National Museum's Teen Writing Fellows program.

Thurs., May 1

English Honors and Scholarships Ceremony & Central Review Spring Issue Launch
6:30 p.m. in the Park Library, Opperman Auditorium

Join us as we honor and celebrate the recipients of this year’s English Department Awards and Scholarships at 6:30 p.m., followed by readings by students published in the Spring edition of Central Review at 7 p.m.