Literary Arts

The English Department annually sponsors and co-sponsors significant contemporary writers and scholars, often winners of Pulitzer Prizes, MacArthur "genius grants," National Book Awards and various other honors.

All writers brought to campus work with students personally; all public presentations are free. For more information, please email Kathy Barton at kabarton@davidson.edu or call 704-894-2254.

All events are free and open to the public. Attendees must comply with college COVID policies. Check back as the 2023-2024 calendar is finalized.

Davidson Reads

October 2023

Sponsored by Davidson Arts & Creative Engagement and the English Department

Jeff Jackson

Jeff Jackson is a novelist, playwright, film curator, and songwriter. His first novel "Mira Corpora" was a Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, chosen as a book of the year in Slate and Salon, and praised by Don DeLillo. His latest novel "Destroy All Monsters" was published by Farrar Straus & Giroux and received rave reviews from The New York Times, Washington Post, PBS, and NPR. Six of his plays have been produced by the Obie-Award winning Collapsable Giraffe theater company in New York City. He has been awarded two NEA awards for his film curating in Charlotte, N.C. He also writes songs and performs with the band Julian Calendar.

Lauren Yero '07

Lauren Yero ’07 is a Cuban American writer and teacher who writes speculative stories of resistance, adventure, and first love that question the structures our world is built upon. Born in Florida, she received her BA from Davidson College and her MA in Literature and Environment from the University of Nevada Reno. She lives with her family in the mountains of western North Carolina. Under This Forgetful Sky is her first book.

Past Presenters

NC Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green stands at podium holding her book, and reading poems into the microphone — Jackie Shelton Green