Best-selling author Ann Hood to host evening talk

Best-selling author Ann Hood, founding director of Salve Regina’s Newport MFA in creative writing, will host an evening talk at 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 1 at the Redwood Library and Athenaeum, located at 50 Bellevue Ave. in Newport.

Hood will be joined by novelist and Newport MFA faculty member Taylor Polites, who will share his work in historical fiction. Hood and Polites will also discuss the Newport MFA’s summer residency program. Their talks will be followed by a question-and-answer session and reception.

Hood is the author of 14 novels, three memoirs and books for young adults. Her first novel, “Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine,” was published in 1987. Since then, her work has appeared in the New York Times, Paris Review, O, Bon Appetit, Tin House, Atlantic Monthly and Real Simple, among others. Hood is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, two Best American Food Writing Awards, Best American Spiritual Writing and Travel Writing Awards, and a Boston Public Library Literary Light Award.

Polites’ first novel, “The Rebel Wife,” was published by Simon & Schuster and his work has appeared in anthologies as well as arts and news publications. He is a partner with Hood and Hester Kaplan in Goat Hill, a collaboration dedicated to bringing writers and writing professionals to southern New England, and works with local organizations to cultivate storytelling and community in his home city.

To RSVP, visit the Newport MFA’s Eventbrite page. For more information, contact Kathleen Layton, marketing and recruitment coordinator, at (401) 341-2212 or kathleen.layton@salve.edu.