Journalist, novelist, and essayist Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao, which was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize, will read from her work at 5:30 p.m. on February 13 in the Godfrey Kerr Studio at the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University campus. Lara Katz, Amanda Kural, Ethan Luk, Hailey Mead, Zoe H. Montague, Tobias Nguyen, Anurag Pratap, Olivia Ragan, Claire Schultz, and Mollika Singh, seniors in Princeton’s Program in Creative Writing, will also read from their recent work. This event continues the 2023-2024 C.K. Williams Reading Series, named after the late Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning poet C.K. Williams, who served on Princeton’s faculty for 20 years. The series showcases senior students of the Program in Creative Writing alongside established writers as special guests. The event is free and open to the public; however, tickets are required. Reserve tickets through University Ticketing. The Godfrey Kerr Studio is an accessible venue, and guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week prior to the event date.
Vauhini Vara. Photo courtesy Vauhini Vara
Vauhini Vara is the author of the bestselling story collection This is Salvaged, which was named a notable book of 2023 by Publisher’s Weekly, The New Yorker and others. Her novel The Immortal King Rao was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and several other prizes in addition to being a finalist for the Pulitzer. Her third book, an essay collection entitled Searches, will be published in 2025. Vara’s fiction has received an O. Henry Award, as well as honors from the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, MacDowell, and Yaddo. Her creative nonfiction has been anthologized in The Best American Essays series. Vara is also a journalist, writing for Wired, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and others, and an editor, most recently at The New York Times Magazine. She teaches at Colorado State University as a 2023-24 Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Book Project. Vara acts as the secretary of Periplus, a mentorship collective serving writers of color.
The ten seniors who will read from their work are among 31 Princeton students pursuing certificates in creative writing in addition to their major areas of study. Each is currently working on a novel, a screenplay, translations, or a collection of poems or short stories as part of their creative independent work for the certificate. Starting with the Class of 2025, students can earn a minor in creative writing, rather than a certificate, and will continue to complete a significant creative independent work. Students in the Program in Creative Writing work closely with a member of the faculty, which includes award-winning writers Michael Dickman, Katie Farris, Aleksandar Hemon, A.M. Homes, Ilya Kaminsky, Christina Lazaridi, Yiyun Li, Paul Muldoon, Patricia Smith, Susan Wheeler, and a number of distinguished lecturers and visiting professors.
On March 19, the 2023-24 series will conclude with a reading by Jake Skeets, author of the award-winning poetry collection Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, along with eight seniors.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the reading series, the Program in Creative Writing, and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, and lectures presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts, most of them free.
