Kirk Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Program

Agnes Scott’s Kirk Writer-in-Residence Program is a signature of our distinctive creative writing program. Each fall,we host a distinguished writer on campus to teach a course to Agnes Scott students and give a public reading of their work. This unique opportunity allows Agnes Scott students the chance to learn and write with some of the most celebrated and interesting writers working today. Writers-in-Residence teach a course, visit other in-session classes, and give a public reading with book signing.

The English Department at Agnes Scott College is thrilled to welcome Roger Reeves as Kirk Distinguished Writer-in-Residence in the fall of 2022.

Roger Reeves earned his BA in English from Morehouse College, an MA in English from Texas A&M University, an MFA from the James A. Michener Center for Creative Writing from the University of Texas-Austin, and a PhD from the UT-Austin. Author of Best Barbarian (W.W. Norton, 2022) and King Me (Copper Canyon Press, 2013), winner of the Larry Levis Reading Prize, the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award, and a John C. Zacharis First Book Award, Reeves is the recipient of a Whiting Award and a Pushcart Prize, as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and Princeton University. Associate Professor of Poetry in the English Department at UT-Austin, Reeves has served as a first-round judge for the Writers’ Festival.

The Kirk Writer-in-Residence Program is made possible by the James T. and Ella Rather Kirk Fund, which was established by alumna, artist, writer, and trustee Mary Wallace Kirk, in honor of her parents. The Kirk Fund supports and enriches academic programs in history, music, literature, art, and philosophy.

Previous Kirk Writers-in-Residence:

• October 2014: Pam Houston taught “Turning the Physical World into Story.”
• October 2015: Monique Truong taught “Writing Plenty, Writing Hunger.”
• October 2016: Richard Blanco taught “Tasting Life Twice: Writing Your Universal Story.”
• Fall semester 2017: Melissa Fay Greene, “Short-Form Literary Journalism.”
• Fall semester 2018: Melissa Fay Greene, “Short-Form Literary Journalism.”
• Spring semester 2019: Melissa Fay Greene, “Long-Form Literary Journalism.”
• October 2019: William Boyle taught “Reading and Writing Noir.”
• November 2019: Aracelis Girmay taught “On Poetry.”
• November 2020: Christine Schutt, "How Does a Story Mean?"
• October 2021:  Aminatta Forna, "Creative Nonfiction Workshop"