Department of English

Patrick Hayes Writers Series

In 1991 the College received funds from the estate of Patrick Hayes to create an endowment supporting a festival for writers. In recent years the festival has evolved into a series, with several events held during the academic year.

Writers recently sponsored in part by the Patrick Hayes Endowment include:

2007-2008

Junot Díaz, David L. Robbins

2006-2007

Rosalind Brackenbury, Christopher Bram, Oni Buchanan, Scott Donaldson, Michael Liebler, Madge McKeithen, Maurice Riordan, Charles Simic, Giovanni Singleton

2005-2006

Ian Caldwell, Adam Haslett, Brian Henry, Josephine Humphreys, Edward P. Jones, Jenna Krajeski, Michael Mott, Gregory Orr, James Tate

2004-2005

A. S. Byatt, Gordon Ball, Henri Cole, Li-Young Lee, Rebecca Lilly, Laura Sims, Brian Waniewski

2003-2004

Michael Ondaatje, Billy Collins

2002-2003

Yusef Komunyakaa

2001-2002

John Edgar Wideman, Seamus Heaney

Writers previously brought to campus by the Patrick Hayes Endowment include novelists Allan Gurganus, Richard Bausch, Madison Smartt Bell, Paul Russell,Tom Disch; poets Allen Ginsberg, Diane Ackerman, Mark Strand, Amiri Baraka, Charles Wright, Agha Shahid Ali, Toi Derricotte, Dana Gioia, Elizabeth Spires; playwrights Ntozake Shange and Cassandra Medley; biographers Scott Donaldson, Judith Thurman, Brad Gooch, Esther Lanigan; and faculty writers Joanne Braxton, Henry Hart, Hermine Pinson, and Nancy Schoenberger.