Beck Series

The Beck Series provides students the opportunity to hear, study with, and engage some of this country’s finest writers.

Beck Series Coordinator:
Margot Singer

Follow Beck Series:

Beck Literary Festival event: Poet Jacqueline Osherow reading and book signing

Jacqueline Osherow’s ninth collection of poems, "Divine Ratios," was published by LSU Press in 2023. She has received grants from the John Simon Guggenheim and Ingram Merrill Foundations, the NEA, and the Witter Bynner Prize. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, The Norton Anthology of Jewish-American Literature, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet and many other anthologies and journals. She is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Utah.

Beck Literary Festival event: Novelist Kevin Wilson reading and book signing

Kevin Wilson is the author of seven books, including the New York Times bestsellers "The Family Fang" and "Nothing to See Here," a Read with Jenna book club selection, and "Run for the Hills." His fiction has appeared in multiple journals, as well as Best American Short Stories 2020 and 2021 and the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee, with his family, where he is an associate professor in the English & Creative Writing Department at the University of the South.

Beck Literary Festival event: Poet Adrian Matejka reading and book signing

Adrian Matejka is the author of six poetry collections and the graphic novel "Last on His Feet." He has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, served as the poet laureate of Indiana from 2018 to 2019, and is editor-in-chief of Poetry magazine. He lives in Chicago, and his latest collection of poetry, "Be Easy: New & Selected Poems," was released by Liveright in the Spring of 2026.

Beck Literary Festival event: Maggie Smith in Conversation with Emily St. John Mandel and Kevin Wilson

Maggie Smith in Conversation with Emily St. John Mandel and Kevin Wilson.

About the Beck Series

For more than sixty years, the Beck Series, funded by the Harriet Ewens Beck Endowment for English, has been a mainstay of creative writing studies at Denison University. The series provides students the opportunity to meet and engage with some of the world’s finest poets and writers.

Here are just a few notable speakers from past years:

  • Percival Everett – Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award Winner
  • Joy Harjo – United States Poet Laureate
  • Piper Kerman – Author of Orange is the New Black
  • Viet Than Nguyen – Pulitzer Prize Winner for The Sympathizer

Beck Series
Archives

2025 - 2026

The Beck Series welcomes graphic memoirist and novelist Mira Jacob.

The Beck Series welcomes author, poet, and wildlife biologist Drew Lanham.

The Beck Series welcomes poet Jehanne Dubrow.

The Beck Series welcomes poets and authors David Baker and Peter Grandbois

The Beck Series welcomes author Jessamine Chan for an interdisciplinary talk.

The Beck Series welcomes author Jessamine Chan for a reading and book signing.

2024 - 2025

The Beck Series welcomes poet Tiana Clark.

The Beck Series welcomes writer and scholar Sophie Lewis.

The Beck Series presents Words in the Mix: A Conversation with Denison Authors.

The Beck Series welcomes GLCA Prize winners for poetry, Jesse Nathan, and for fiction DK Nnuro.

The Beck Series welcomes author Amy Butcher.

The Beck Series welcomes essayists Melissa Febos and Melissa Faliveno.

The Beck Series welcomes poets Ilya Kaminsky and Katie Farris.

2023 - 2024

The Beck Series welcomes poet Erika Meitner.

The Beck Series welcomes poet Roger Robinson.

The Beck Series welcomes poet Brenda Hillman.

The Beck Series welcomes poet sam sax.

The Beck Series welcomes GLCA Prize winners for for nonfiction, Lars Horn and for fiction, Tsering Yangzom Lama.

The Beck Series welcomes novelist M.E. O’Brien.

The Beck Series welcomes poet Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach.

The Beck Series welcomes Ukrainian poet, translator, and journalist Iya Kiva.

The Beck Series welcomes story scientist Angus Fletcher.

2022 - 2023

The Beck Series welcomes novelist Jordy Rosenberg.

The Beck Series welcomes GLCA Prize winners for nonfiction, Melissa Valentine, and for fiction, Michael X. Wang.

The Beck Series welcomes poet Tomás Q. Morín.

Denison University’s Laura C. Harris Series and Beck Series welcome Joy Harjo.

The Beck Series presents essayist Melissa Faliveno.

The Beck Series welcomes poets Erin Belieu and Cate Marvin.

The Beck Series presents a poetry reading by Malika Booker.

2021 - 2022

The Beck Series presents author Torrey Peters.

The Beck Series presents Connie Schultz in conversation with Wesley J. Lowery and Jamil Smith.

Denison University's Beck Series welcomes Ada Limón.

Denison University's Beck Series welcomes Connie Schultz.

Denison University's Beck Series welcomes Maria Dahvana Headley.

2020 - 2021

Denison University's Beck Series welcomes Kim Blaeser.

The Beck series and Journalism welcome David Aldridge and Dave Zirin.

Denison University's Beck Series welcomes Alison Stine ’00.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

Journalism at Denison presents a panel discussion on careers for English/CW/NJ students.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

The Vail Series welcomes Aoife O’Donovan presenting a virtual concert.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

Denison University presents "Welcome Beck" Thursdays, a virtual reading series.

2019 - 2020

Denison University's Beck Series welcomes Jos Charles.

Denison University's Beck Series welcomes Lesley Nneka Arimah.

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