The Distinguished Visiting Writers Program was instituted in 1978 at the University of Idaho. It brings three to five nationally recognized authors to campus each year to provide graduates and undergraduates with a week of intensive instruction in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction writing, both in workshop settings and in one-on-one sessions. The workshop sessions are generally offered as a one-credit course. The credit can be used as part of the degree requirements for the B.A. in English, the M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and the M.A. in English.
Distinguished Visiting Writers are chosen not only for their talent as teachers and writers, but also for the diversity they bring to students in terms of genre, vision, voice, and background. Among those who have taught in the program are Kathy Acker, Charles Baxter, Ann Beattie, Linda Bierds, Robert Boswell, Ron Carlson, Lan Samantha Chang, Joshua Ferris, Billy Collins, Robert Coover, Samuel R. Delany, Mark Doty, David James Duncan, Stephen Dunn, Tony Earley, Ben Fountain, Raymond Federman, Carolyn Forche, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, Ursula Hegi, Robin Hemley, Tony Hoagland, Ann Pancake, Stanley Kunitz, Li-Young Lee, Patricia Hampl, Margot Livesey, Mark Halliday, Beverly Lowry, Carole Maso, Campbell McGrath, Rebecca McClanahan, Heather McHugh, Antonya Nelson, Sharon Olds, Benjamin Percy, Marilynne Robinson, Sonia Sanchez, Natasha Tretheway, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Derek Walcott, and David Foster Wallace.
Our 2012-2013 writers will be:
For further information, please contact the Director of Creative Writing, Doug Heckman, at dheckman@uidaho.edu.