Pitt Hosts Renowned Author and Poet Eileen Myles for Literary Reading March 21

Author and poet Eileen Myles will deliver a reading of her critically acclaimed works of literature at 8:30 p.m. March 21 in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, 650 Schenley Dr., Oakland. This free public event is part of the University’s 2012-13 Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series. 

Myles was described by novelist Dennis Cooper as “one of the savviest and most restless intellects in contemporary literature.” She is the author of 19 books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including Inferno: A Poet’s Novel (OR Books, 2010), which won the 2010 Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction. Myles’ latest work is the poetry collection Snowflake/Different Streets (Wave Books, 2012), which has been met with praise from the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Publishers Weekly. 

Other recent works by Myles include the nonfiction book The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays in Art (MIT Press, 2009), the poetry collections Sorry, Tree (WAVE Books, 2007) and Skies (Black Sparrow Press, 2001), and the novel Cool for You (Soft Skull Press, 2000). Myles has contributed to the periodical publications Art Forum, The Nation, Book Forum, Vice, and AnOther Magazine, among others. 

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Myles has earned numerous awards and honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012, the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2010, and a Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant in 2007. 

Myles is a professor emeritus of writing and literature at the University of California at San Diego, where she taught from 2002 to 2007. She also has held the distinguished designations of Hugo Writer at the University of Montana in Missoula and Fannie Hurst Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Myles earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Massachusetts in 1971. 

The University of Pittsburgh Writing Program and The Book Center are cosponsors of the 2012-13 Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series season. Call 412-624-6508 or visit http://pghwriterseries.wordpress.com for more information.