Arcadia University’s Visiting Writers Series Presents Award-Winning Author Brad Watson, March 25
Glenside, Pa.–February 25, 2011– Arcadia University’s Visiting Writers Series welcomes award-winning author Brad Watson, on Friday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Grey Towers Castle. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 7 p.m. in advance of Watson’s reading, and his books will be on sale for him to sign afterward. Arcadia University is located at 450 S. Easton Road, Glenside, Pa.
Watson’s major works include Last Days of the Dog-Men, a collection of short stories (1996 W.W. Norton), which won a Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His first novel, The Heaven of Mercury, was published in 2002 by W.W. Norton. In 2010, a novella and stories titled Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives was published by W.W. Norton.
His writing career began while he was enrolled at Meridian Junior College, in Meridian, Mississippi. Although he had no previous writing experience, Watson scored high on the English entrance exam, and was placed in an Honors English Class. This was the turning point in his life.
In 1976, he made the decision to further his education and enrolled at Mississippi State University as an English major. That first summer at Mississippi State, he wrote his first short story. After graduating in 1978, he went on to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at the University Alabama.
“His inspiration as noted in his biography (http://mswritersandmusicians.com/writers/brad-watson.html) for writing stories about dogs and people (Last Days of the Dog-Men), came from his childhood. Everyone he knew had a dog and he related the dog’s personality with the owners. Besides his writing, Watson has taught creative writing at the University of Alabama, and also worked in the University’s public relations office.”
“In 1997 Watson moved to Boston to teach at Harvard. He taught there until his second book, the novel Heaven of Mercury, was published in 2002. He has held visiting writer in residence positions at the University of West Florida, the University of Alabama, Ole Miss, and the University of California, Irvin. In 2005 Watson began teaching at the University of Wyoming in the MFA program where he continues to teach.”
About Arcadia University: Arcadia University is a top-ranked private university in metropolitan Philadelphia and a national leader in study abroad, ranked #1 in undergraduate participation in study abroad (Open Doors 2010). Arcadia University promises a distinctively global, integrative and personal learning experience that prepares students to contribute and prosper in a diverse and dynamic world. U.S. News & World Report ranks Arcadia University among the top regional universities in the North, as one of the top study abroad programs in the nation, and as a “top up-and-coming school.” The Physical Therapy program is ranked 7th in the nation.
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