ECU Creative Writing graduate students to present reading Feb. 18

Seven ECU graduate students in creative writing will read from their original work on Monday, Feb. 18 on campus

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will include fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. It begins at 6:30 p.m. in Bate 2021.

Participants are enrolled in a graduate course in public readings taught by Alex Albright, who co-ordinates ECU’s creative writing program. Organizing readings like this is part of their course of study, Albright said.

Readers include Todd Goodman, Sabrina Westerman, Sarah Curzon, David Sudzina, Aaron Geer, Rose Nelson, and John Hinson. Each will read about 10 minutes.

Goodman, a Concord native, earned his undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University. He has worked as a journalist in both North Carolina and Florida, where he won journalism awards from the Florida Press Club and the Florida Press Association.

Westerman, who was home-schooled in the mountains of Virginia before moving to Greenville in 2005, is the first in her generation to earn a college degree. She graduated from Pitt Community College and ECU, where she was the English Department’s Outstanding Graduate in December 2011.

Curzon, who graduated from the University of South Carolina magna cum laude with a double major in marketing and fashion merchandising, also has a master’s degree from ECU in Education. She has taught English at Edwards Middle School in Nash County for eight years.  Both her fiction and nonfiction have earned ECU’s nominations for the prestigious AWP “Intro” Awards.

Sudzina, a Cortland, N.Y. native, moved with his family to Greenville in 1998. He graduated from J.H. Rose High and Pitt Community College before earning his undergraduate degree from UNC-Charlotte. He writes fiction and is currently working towards an English Studies degree.

Geer, a Western Michigan University graduate, is in his first semester at ECU where he also works as an editorial assistant at the North Carolina Literary Review. He has published several stories and was co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Litribune and an editorial intern for Third Coast while at Western Michigan.

Nelson, who was born in Scottsdale, Arizona and grew up in the Midwest and graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. A former high school English teacher, she primarily writes fiction for young adult readers and has had several stories published. She and her husband, Jim Nelson, live in Greenville with their five children.

Hinson, from Goldsboro, earned his B.A. in English from ECU. He was an All-State baseball player who turned to creative writing after an elbow injury ended his baseball playing days. He writes allegories, satire, and science fiction, and he maintains a blog of his creative nonfiction essays and cultural criticism

For further information, contact Alex Albright, co-ordinator of creative writing, at 252.328.4876 or albrightd@ecu.edu.

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