Clemson writers to read in benefit for Paw Pantry

CLEMSON — Three Clemson University faculty members will read at this year’s Writers’ Harvest, a benefit for Paw Pantry.

The event, featuring award-winning writers Keith Lee Morris, Jillian Weise and Nic Brown, takes place 7 p.m. Wednesday via Zoom.

The reading will also feature winners of the university’s annual Writers’ Harvest Student Reader Awards: Miciah Pendarvis (undergraduate) and Jenny Washburne (graduate).

The public is invited to the reading at this Zoom link: https://clemson.zoom.us/s/95578222464.

“This annual event gives the campus and the public a chance to hear some of Clemson’s most talented poets and fiction writers — both faculty and students,” said Mike Pulley, event organizer and emcee. “In the process, the audience also gets to help feed those in need on campus.”

The writers encourage viewers to make a monetary or food donation to Paw Pantry. Monetary donations can be made by clicking “Donate” on Paw Pantry’s website here.

To make food donations, contact Paw Pantry at 864-372-6879 or pawpantry@clemson.edu for drop-off appointments.

Writers’ Harvest readings are staged during the holiday season by writers and poets throughout the United States. Writers’ Harvest at Clemson is sponsored by the Pearce Center for Professional Communication and English Majors Organization.

Paw Pantry, located in Clemson’s Edgar Brown University Union, reduces food insecurity among Clemson students and in the community.

For more info, contact Mike Pulley at wpulley@clemson.edu or 864-650-6094.

The writers: Keith Lee Morris is author of three novels, “The Greyhound God” (University of Nevada Press, 2003), “The Dart League King” (Tin House Books, 2008) and “Traveler’s Rest” (Little, Brown, 2016), as well as two collections of short stories, “The Best Seats in the House and Other Stories” (University of Nevada Press, 2004) and “Call It What You Want” (Tin House, 2010). He received his MFA in Writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is currently professor of creative writing in the Clemson University English Department.

Jillian Weise is a poet, video artist and disability rights activist. “Cyborg Detective,” her fourth book, was published last year by BOA Editions. Weise’s essays have appeared in A Public Space, Granta, The New York Times and Tin House. She’s been awarded residencies from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Fulbright Program and the Lannan Foundation. This fall she produced the video play, “A Kim Deal Party,” featuring Eileen Myles, Patricia Lockwood, Alice Wong and many colleagues/alumni from Clemson. She is a professor in the Clemson English Department.

Nic Brown is the author of the novels “In Every Way,” “Doubles,” and “Floodmarkers,” which was selected as an Editor’s Choice by The New York Times Book Review. His short fiction and essays have appeared in The New York Times and the Harvard Review, among others. His memoir “Bang Bang Crash” is forthcoming from Counterpoint. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Columbia University, Brown was the Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi and is currently an associate professor at Clemson.

Jenny Washburne is from southern Indiana. She is completing her master’s degree in English at Clemson and earned a bachelor’s in English from Covenant College. While she enjoys the literature side of English, she especially loves creative writing and editing. Outside of reading, writing and attending Zoom meetings, she spends a lot of time hiking, running, messing with her fish tank and obtaining too many houseplants.

Miciah Pendarvis was raised in Beaufort, South Carolina. She is a sophomore at Clemson University, majoring in English and minoring in Creative Writing. In 2019, she graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, where she was a student of the Creative Writing Program.