EVENT: Tim Z. Hernandez reading

Returning to the central San Joaquin Valley after winning national honors, Visalia native Tim Z. Hernandez will be the featured performer this Friday, Dec. 1, at Arte Americas in downtown Fresno.

Hernandez will headline the "Outriders" performance event, an evening of poetry and music by artists outside the mainstream. His first poetry collection, Skin Tax, won the 2006 American Book Award, sponsored by the Before Columbus Foundation. The collection was published in the Great Valley Books series by Heyday Books of Berkeley.

Also performing will be English Department alumni Mike Medrano and Marisol Baca, among others. The event begins at 8 p.m. Cost: $5.

MFA student Sylvia Savala interviews Hernandez this week on Fresno Famous. Click here for the article.

EVENT: Daniel Chacon reading

Fresno native Daniel Chacon, the acclaimed short-story writer and author of the new novel And The Shadows Took Him, will read from his new work Thursday, Nov. 16. Chacon is this year's Distinguished Writer in Residence in the Fresno MFA program.

The event, supported by the Fresno MFA program and the English Department, is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Alice Peters Auditorium, inside the University Business Center. Opening the event will be MFA student and performance poet Deanna Pierro, along with local folksinger Julia Dawn.

Click here for a recent FresnoStateNews.com interview with Chacon, or click here for a past interview with Chacon on the MFA blog, conducted by MFA student writer Tabitha Villalba.

EVENT: Do's and Don'ts of Writing Conferences and Retreats

The third installment of the new MFA Afternoon Series is scheduled for this Thursday, Nov. 9. Faculty member Steven Church, pictured above, will moderate a discussion the do's and don'ts of applying for and attending writing conferences and retreats.

Please join MFA faculty and students for an informal discussion of the practice and process of finding good conferences. The discussion will focus on the Associated Writing Programs conference, Bread Loaf, NonfictioNow, and other big conferences, as well as writing retreats like McDowell, Yaddo, and elsewhere.

What are the benefits? What are the costs? Where are the best ones? Professor Church will lead the talk.

The event will take place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in PB 194, inside the lobby of the University Business Center.