Newport MFA offers virtual guest readings, craft talks from best-selling authors

Guest Reading by Whitney Scharer
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 from 6-7 p.m.
Guest Craft Talk by Whitney Scharer
Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021 at 4-5:15 p.m.

Whitney Scharer holds a B.A. in English literature from Wesleyan University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. Her short fiction, essays and interviews have appeared in numerous publications including “Vogue,” the “Telegraph,” the “Tatler” and “Bellevue Literary Review.” Her first novel, “The Age of Light,” based on the life of pioneering photographer Lee Miller, was a “Boston Globe” and “IndieNext” bestseller and  named one of the best books of 2019 by “Parade,”
“Glamour,” “Real Simple.” It was selected as a must read title by the Mass Center for the Book. She is the recipient of a 2020 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Fellowship in fiction and has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for the Arts and Ragdale.

Andre Dubus III & Helen Schulman

Guest Reading Readings by Andre Dubus III & Helen Schulman
Friday, Jan. 8 from 7-9 p.m.

Andre Dubus III is the author of “The Cage Keeper and Other Stories,” “Bluesman” and the “New York Times” best-sellers “House of Sand and Fog,” “The Garden of Last Days” (soon to be a major motion picture) and his memoir, “Townie” (a No. 4 “New York Times” best-seller and a “New York Times” Editors’ Choice). His work has been included in Best American Essays and Best Spiritual Writing anthologies, and his novel “House of Sand and Fog” was a finalist for the National Book Award, a No. 1 “New York Times” best-seller and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. His novella collection “Dirty Love” was listed as a “Notable Book” by the “Washington Post” and the “New York Times,” and it was named a “New York Times” Editors’ Choice and a “Kirkus” Starred Best Book of 2013. His novel “Gone So Long” received starred reviews from “Publisher’s Weekly” and “Library Journal” and was named to the “Boston Globe’s” Twenty Best Books of 2018.

Helen Schulman is a novelist, screenwriter and short story writer. She is the author of the novels “This Beautiful Life,” which was a “New York Times” and international best-seller, as well as “Come With Me”, “A Day At The Beach,” “P.S.,” “The Revisionist,” “Out Of Time” and the short story collection “Not A Free Show.” She co-edited the anthology “Wanting A Child.” Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in such places as “Vanity Fair,” “Time,” “Vogue,” “GQ,” the “New York Times” Book Review, “A Public Space” and the “Paris Review.” She is the fiction chair of the writing program at The New School, where she is a tenured professor of writing. She is also the executive director of WriteOnNYC.com.