As part of a community enrichment and outreach program at UNLV, fiction writer Tom Perrotta will give a public reading at 7 p.m. Feb. 14 in UNLV's Moyer Student Union Ballroom. The reading is part of the Writers-in-the-Schools (WITS) program, which promotes learning through contemporary literature.
Perrotta's book "Election," was made into a movie in 1999. He is also the author of "Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies" and "Joe College." He is a graduate of Yale University and currently lectures at Harvard University.
Prior to the public reading, Perrotta will lead workshops with the Clark County high school students and teachers participating in WITS project. In 2001, the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), which is headquartered at UNLV, launched WITS as a pilot program. The innovative program received a $40,000 grant from the NEA and $46,374 in applied research initiative funding from UNLV. The project is also funded by more than $62,000 in private patron support through the IIML, including a generous donation from Park Place Entertainment.
This year participants in the semester-long program include 20 Clark County English teachers. The teachers each chose one "literary-minded, deserving student" to participate in the program. "We asked the teachers to select students who could most benefit from the unique experience of working directly with such noteworthy authors," said creative writing professor Douglas Unger, director of grants for the institute. "We hope these students are inspired to go on to college."
Each students receive up to $800 to take preparatory classes for admissions exams, a $1,000 scholarship to be awarded once he or she is admitted to a college or arts institute, and mentoring from a UNLV student in the master of fine arts in creative writing international program.
The high school teachers receive a $1,000 stipend as well as graduate tuition to enable them to study new methods for teaching contemporary literature.
Perrotta is the first of four writers who will work with the WITS teachers and students. Future public readings featuring WITS writers will be held:
o Feb. 28 -- Sandra Cisneros, a fiction writer whose works include The House on Mango Street. Her latest book, "Caramelo," is a multi-generational story of a Mexican American family. She earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and has won two National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fellowships and a MacArthur fellowship. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
o March 28 -- Mary Karr, a poet and non-fiction writer of "Cherry" and "Viper Rum." Her memoir, "The Liar's Club," was a national best-seller and selected as a notable book of 1995 by The New York Times and The New Yorker. She was a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe College and is now the Jesse Truesdale Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University.
o April 11 -- E. Ethelbert Miller, a poet and author of the memoir "Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer." He is also the editor of many anthologies, including "In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African American Poetry." He is director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
For more information, contact the UNLV creative writing program at 895-4366.
