April 13: Good Thunder Reading Series Hosts Fiction Writer Karen Russell, Poet Holly Dodge

Thursday, April 13, 2023
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Workshop opens the event

Mankato, Minn. – Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Good Thunder Reading Series will host fiction writer Karen Russell and poet Holly Dodge on Thursday, April 13 in the series’ sixth event of the 2022-2023 academic year.

All the events are free and open to the public.

Russell, the Nadine B. Andreas visiting residency writer of 2023, will open the April 13 events with a workshop from 10-11 a.m. in Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Performing Arts Building, Room 203B.

She will present a “Talk on Craft” from 3-4 p.m. April 13 in Centennial Student Union, Rooms 253/4/5. Books will be available for purchase.

Dodge, this year’s Andreas scholar, will read from her work from 7:30-8:30 p.m. April 13 in Centennial Student Union, Rooms 253/4/5. Books will be available for purchase.

The following information about Russell and Dodge was provided by the Good Thunder Reading Series:

Karen Russell, born and raised in Miami, Florida, won the 2012 and 2018 National Magazine Award for fiction, and her first novel, “Swamplandia!,” was a finalist for Pulitzer Prize in 2011. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, the “5 under 35” prize from the National Book Foundation, the NYPL Young Lions Award, the Bard Fiction Prize and is a former fellow of the Cullman Center and the American Academy in Berlin. Russell is also the author of “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” “Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories,” “Sleep Donation: A Novella,” and most recently, “Orange World.” She currently holds the endowed chair at Texas State University’s master of fine arts program and lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children.

Holly Dodge is a poet and teacher. She is a third-year master of fine arts student and teaching assistant at Minnesota State Mankato. Dodge is also co-founder of The Lectern Series, a community educational speaker series. Dodge’s poetry and fiction have been featured in various print and online publications. She currently resides with her two school-age children in North Mankato, Minnesota.

Founded in 1981, the Good Thunder Reading Series brings nationally and internationally acclaimed writers from diverse backgrounds and literary traditions to Mankato, Minnesota, with the goal of promoting access to great literature, inspiring creativity and connections in our communities, and fostering lively conversations about how writers work and why writing matters.

The Good Thunder Reading Series is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

The 2022-23 Good Thunder Reading Series also receives support from Minnesota State Mankato’s Department of English, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Women’s Center, the Nadine B. Andreas Endowment, the Eddice B. Barber Visiting Writer Endowment, the Robert C. Wright Endowment and individual donors. Barnes & Noble Bookstore at Minnesota State Mankato provides additional assistance.

For more information or to get involved, contact Robin Becker at robin.becker@mnsu.edu or visit gt.mnsu.edu.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 14,482 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 26 colleges and seven universities.