The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series provides our community with diverse and rich literary experiences.
We are a student-run, faculty-organized series committed to hosting free events that are open to the public.
Every event offers opportunities for our local and student communities to interact with the visiting writers and discuss their craft — through panels, readings, classes and workshops.
The Fourteenth Annual Tom Andrews Memorial Reading featuring David Cho and Dana Vanderlugt
September 29, 7 p.m., BSC’s Schaap Auditorium
“At the heart of David Cho’s A Half-Life is the narrative journey of Harry Kim, an American son born to immigrant Korean parents learning to become American in the heart of America, treading a line between two cultures, embracing a lineage more complex than most American boys and young men, and finding a way to belong in the country he was born in with both heart and spirituality and desire.”
—Shawn Wong, author of Homebase, American Knees, and Aiiieeeee!
—Shawn Wong, author of Homebase, American Knees, and Aiiieeeee!
“David Cho’s poems evoke experiences of growing up Korean American, loving Chicago, and meditating on roadkill at the same time that they signal an awareness of themselves as verbal constructions. Hence, in a poem about the hyphen — that iconic signifier of ethnic American identity — punctuation itself takes on a life of its own; in a poem ostensibly about love for his wife, the speaker offers an encomium to the Windy City; and in a poem about roadkill, the speaker invites the reader to address the dead deer directly. What does it mean to be a second-generation American? How do you write a love poem? What can death teach us? A Half-Life at once grapples with these and other important questions and resists reductive answers.”
⎯Floyd Cheung, author of Jazz at Manzanar and coauthor of John Okada: The Life and Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy
⎯Floyd Cheung, author of Jazz at Manzanar and coauthor of John Okada: The Life and Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-No Boy
“Enemies in the Orchard’s narrative is surprising, its characters complex, and its focus on forgiveness and love, and the meaning of the good and full life, is honest and heady. Plan to read this in one sitting — that's how gripping this story is.”
—Gary Schmidt, Newbery Honor-winning author
“Claire, a 13-year-old daughter of apple farmers in Michigan, and Karl, a Nazi prisoner of war, find themselves in an unlikely friendship — with hints of more — when their lives intersect at Claire's family orchard. This novel-in-verse is based on a true story of a group of German POWs who were transported to the Midwest to help with labor shortages due to the large quantity of Americans fighting in the war. Through dual perspectives, VanderLugt aims to humanize the characters and show that Karl, who was a member of the Hitler Youth, recognizes the horrors of war and the way he was indoctrinated; he is portrayed as a sympathetic character. Pacing and character development flow well in this story and hold readers' interest. WWII fiction crowds historical fiction collections, though not many focus on the experiences of German soldiers on American soil. This book sheds some light on this part of history.”
—Monisha Blair, School Library Journal
Tarfia Faizullah and Jamaal May Q&A
Aminatta Forna Reading
Students with Jamaal May at book signing
Hope College Jazz Ensemble performs before an event
Recent visitors include novelists Tim O’Brien and Aminatta Forna, poets Terrance Hayes and Joy Harjo, and graphic artist Jeffrey Brown. Our previous visiting writers are listed below.
- Previous Visiting Writers
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D
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Cornelius Eady Fall 2007 David Harris Ebenbach Fall 2006 Clyde Edgerton Spring 2002 NANCY EIMERS Spring 2012 CARLOS EIRE Spring 2005 Lynn Emanuel Spring 1992 Percival Everett Spring 2007 F
Beth Ann Fennelly Spring 2004 Francis Fike Spring 1990 Kevin Fitton Fall 2022 Linda Nemec Foster Fall 2019 Karen Joy Fowler Spring 2008 VIEVEE FRANCIS Fall 2006, Spring 2017 Alice Fulton Spring 1989 G
M. Evelina Galang Spring 2001 Brendan Galvin Fall 1993 Cristina Garcia Fall 2010 Ellen Gilchrist Spring 1997 Aracelis Girmay Fall 2009 JAIMY GORDON Spring 2012 Dave Griffith Spring 2008 Yaa Gyasi Fall 2024 H
Barbara Hamby Spring 2006 Lauren Haldeman Spring 2019 Patricia Hampl Spring 1994 Joy Harjo Fall 2022 Michael Harper Spring 1991 Terrance Hayes Spring 2010 Samuel Hazo Spring 2002 Robert Hemley Fall 2000 Amy Hempel Spring 1992 CRISTINA HENRÍQUEZ Spring 2017 EMILY HENRY Fall 2016 Gordon Henry, Jr Fall 1997 David Hernandez Spring 1995 Conrad Hilberry Fall 1986, ’91, ’98, Spring ’00 MARK HILLRINGHOUSE Spring 2013 Sean Hill Spring 2011 Edward Hirsch Spring 2013 Tony Hoagland Fall 1999 Linda Hogan Fall 1996 Randall Horton Spring 2019 Jay Hopler Fall 2007 Andrew Hudgins Spring 1987 Harry Humes Spring 1994 J
David L. James Fall 2013 Gish Jen Spring 1998 Mat Johnson Spring 2013 Richard Jones Fall 1990 Van Jordan Spring 2001, Fall 2005 Allison Joseph Spring 2001 Diana Joseph Spring 2011 K
Laura Kasischke Fall 1996 Janet Kauffman Spring 1989 JesseLee Kercheval Spring 1999 Jamaica Kincaid Spring 1999 Galway Kinnell Spring 1991 David Kirby Spring 2006 Yusef Komunyakaa Spring 1994 Maxine Kumin Fall 1995 L
Li-Young Lee Spring 1986, ’91, Fall ’01 Ananda Lima Spring 2025 Lisa Lenzo Spring 1998 Dana Levin Spring 2001 E.J. Levy Spring 2015 VYVYANE LOH Spring 2005 Lorraine Lopez Fall 2005 Tsering Yangzom Lama Spring 2024 M
Bob Mankoff Fall 2015 DOMINGO MARTINEZ Fall 2013 Michael Martone Spring 2007 Stefanie Marlis Spring 1991 Nate Marshall Spring 2018 Adrian Matejka Fall 2014 Sebastian Matthews Fall 2005 Emily St. John Mandel Fall 2018 Jill McCorkle Fall 2000 Kevin McFadden Spring 2011 Alison McGhee Fall 1998 Kathleen McGookey Spring 2002 Heather McHugh Fall 1994 Kevin McIlvoy Spring 2000 Guadalupe García McCall Spring 2022 Shane McCrae Spring 2024 James McKean Spring 1988 Orlando Ricardo Menes Spring 2015 Wayne Miller Fall 2010 BICH MINH NGYEN Spring 2012 Judith Minty Fall 1988 Ander Monson Fall 2008 Rick Moody Fall 2003 James Fujinami Moore Spring 2024 Lorrie Moore Fall 1997 Thylias Moss Fall 1996 Julie Moulds Spring 2002 Andy Mozina Fall 2008 Lisel Muellar Spring 1990 N
Linda Nemec Foster Spring 1990 Nancy Nicodemus Spring 1990 Lewis (Buddy) Nordan Spring 2008 DK Nnuro Spring 2025 Naomi Shihab Nye Spring 1988, ’98 O
Joyce Carol Oates Fall 1997 Sharon Olds Fall 1992 Anne-Marie Oomen Fall 2019 William Olsen Fall 1990 MATTHEW OLZMANN Spring 2017 Steve Orlen Fall 2003 Gregory Orr Fall 2009 Simon Ortiz Fall 2003 Julie Otsuka Fall 2019 P
Gary Pak Spring 2012 William Patrick Fall 1990 Joel Peckham Fall 2001 Miriam Pederson Fall 1991 ANGELA PELSTER Fall 2015 Ben Percy Spring 2011 James Perkins Fall 1987 Lawrence Pike Spring 1993 David James Poissant Fall 2015 Hilary Plum Spring 2018 Chaim Potok Spring 1995 Lynn Powell Spring 1998 ISMET PRCIC Spring 2014 Marcel Fable Price (Fable the Poet) Spring 2023 Francine Prose Spring 2009 R
Nahid Rachlin Spring 2002, Fall 2007 Shann Ray Fall 2025 Glenis Redmond Spring 2003 Roger Reeves Spring 2025 Paisley Rekdal Fall 2017 Donald Revell Spring 1988 Jack Ridl Fall 2006, Spring 2023, Fall 2025 Meridith Ridl (illustrator) Fall 2018 Alberto Rios Spring 1996 Marilynne Robinson Fall 2005 Luis Rodriguez Spring 2000 Victor Rodriguez-Nunez Spring 2006 Dana Roeser Spring 2006 Anjoli Roy Spring 2021 Anele Rubin Spring 2007 Mary Ruefle Fall 1990 Karen Russell Spring 2018 Richard Russo Fall 2002 John Rybicki Spring 2002 S
Arnie Sabatelli Spring 2000 Mary Ann Samyn Spring 2007 Sonia Sanchez Spring 2000 George Saunders Spring 2010 NATALIE SCENTERS-ZAPICO Spring 2017 Herbert Scott Fall 1988 Sophfronia Scott Spring 2019 Linda Scott DeRosier Fall 2001 Heather Sellers Spring 1996, Spring 2019 David Shields Fall 2010 Joan Silber Spring 2007 Sue Silverman Spring 1997, 2000 Renee Simms Spring 2021 Charles Simic Spring 1989, 1994 Charlie Smith Spring 1989 Lee Smith Fall 1995 PATRICIA SMITH Fall 2013 Minton Sparks (w/John Jackson) Spring 2009 William Stafford Spring 1988, 1991 Gerald Stern Fall 1991 Susan Straight Spring 1992 Virgil Suarez Spring 1998 T
Elizabeth Trembley Fall 2023 Lynne Thompson Spring 2009 Shea Tuttle Fall 2021 Quincy Troupe Fall 1995 Chase Twichell Spring 1996 U
Leslie Ullman Spring 1992 Lee Upton Fall 1987 V
Melissa Valentine Spring 2023 Sarah Viren Spring 2021 Jean Valentine Fall 1991, Spring 2013 W
Don Waters Fall 2009 Michael X. Wang Spring 2023 Kellie Wells Fall 2003 Joe Wilkins Spring 2015 Nancy Willard Spring 1991 Jonathan Williams Fall 1986 Mark Winegardner Spring 2013 Jon Woodward Fall 2012 Charles Wright Spring 1990 Y
Mark Yakich Spring 2008 Al Young Fall 1992 David Young Spring 1994 Z
Ofelia Zepeda Fall 2000 Paul Zimmer Spring 1979, 1985, 1989, 1994
Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series
Lubbers Hall126 East 10th StreetRoom 338Holland, MI 49423
workP. 616.395.7620
jrvws@hope.edu