• Visiting Writers
• Past Visitors to the Piper Center

Distinguished Visiting Canadian Fulbright Chair in Creative Writing

The 2008 Distinguished Visiting Canadian Fulbright Chair in Creative Writing will be poet Ross Leckie.

Ross Leckie was born in Lachine, Quebec in 1953. He studied English and Philosophy at McGill University and completed an MA in Creative Writing with Gary Geddes at Concordia University in 1982. After completing a PhD at University of Toronto with a thesis on Wallace Stevens in 1989, he studied at Princeton University on a postdoctoral fellowship, and taught at University of Toronto and University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George.

Mr. Leckie has published three books of poetry, A Slow Light; The Authority of Roses and Gravity’s Plumb Line. His academic interests include 20th-century American and Canadian literature, post-colonial literature, and cultural studies. He is currently a professor of English at the University of New Brunswick and editor of The Fiddlehead, without a doubt Canada's finest literary journal. He has published essays on Wallace Stevens, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Russell Banks, and the theory of cultural studies, and his poetry has appeared in the major Canadian and American journals, including The New Republic, American Literary Review, Denver Quarterly, Southwest Review, The Fiddlehead, Descant, The Malahat Review, and The Antigonish Review. He is past president of The League of Canadian Poets.

Professor Leckie will mentor and meet with ASU MFA students, lecture and read from his work for the community, and participate in the 2008 ASU Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference.

Past Distinguished Visiting Canadian Fulbright Chairs have included Ron Smith and Tom Wayman. Click here for more information on the Distinguished Visiting Canadian Fulbright Chair in Creative Writing. (All applications and award decisions are made by the Canadian Fulbright Agency.)

The Piper Center Distinguished Writer in Residence

As part of the generous endowment from the Piper Charitable Trust, the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing is pleased to begin welcoming Distinguished Writers in Residence into the ASU and Phoenix metro area communities for extended stays.

Distinguished Writers in Residence are selected for their overall contributions to American letters and literature and their demonstrated excellence in teaching. Selected writers execute a semester-long residency incorporating community and ASU-based teaching endeavors; public reading events, lectures, and receptions; and potential one-on-one interaction with students.

Our inaugural Distinguished Writer in Residence is Lee Gutkind, the "godfather of creative nonfiction" and founder and editor of the literary journal Creative Nonfiction. Mr. Gutkind was in residence at the Piper Center for Creative Writing from January 15, 2007 through May 15, 2007 and will once again be in residence from January 1, 2008 through May 15, 2008.

2008/09 Distinguished Visiting Writers Reading Series

Click here to view past visitors to the Piper Center for Creative Writing.