Lit, Live!
Sponsored by The Creative Writing Program, Nassau Community College’s Lit, Live! reading series brings to campus renowned writers from around the world. Among those who have read at NCC are Joyce Carol Oates, Charles Simic, Jamaica Kincaid, Yusef Komunyakaa, Tobias Wolff, Mark Doty, Marilyn Hacker, Nahid Rachlin, and Michael Thomas. These writers present their work in readings that are free and open to the public, conduct master classes and Q&A sessions for creative writing students, and meet with faculty groups.
Lit, Live! also sends writers from Nassau Community College out into the Long Island community to give lectures, readings and/or workshops at libraries, local public schools, art galleries, museums, or any other Long Island organization that would like to include literary activities in its offerings. The Faculty Profiles page contains biographies, samples of work, and contact information, or, if you would like more general information, contact Dr. Sabrina Davis, Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program, at CreativeWritingProgram@ncc.edu.
Lit, Live! - Spring 2024
Co-sponsored by the NCC Foundation
TUESDAY, MARCH 26 AT 1:00pm
Mariah Fredericks
Location: Tower 11 or Live Stream
Mariah Fredericks was born, raised, and still lives in New York City. She graduated
from Vassar College with a degree in history. She is the author of the Jane Prescott
mystery series, which has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her
novel, The Lindbergh Nanny, was nominated for the 2023 Anthony Award, as well as the
Macavity Sue Feder Memorial Award. Her most recent novel, The Wharton Plot, was published
in January.
MONDAY, APRIL 8 AT 9:30am
Vanessa Cuti
Location: CCB 252/253 or Live Stream
Vanessa Cuti's fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2021, The Kenyon
Review, AGNI, West Branch, The Rumpus, and others. She received her MFA from Stony
Brook University and lives in the suburbs of New York. The Tip Line (Crooked Lane,
2023) is her debut novel.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 AT 12:30pm
Alex Segura
Location: CCB 252/253 or Live Stream
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which The New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice.
NPR described the novel as “masterful,” and it received starred reviews from Publishers
Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist. Secret Identity was also listed as one of the Best Mysteries
of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, the South Florida Sun Sentinel and more, and
was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards
for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book
Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category. His next novel, the YA Spider-Verse adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow is out now from Disney Books/Marvel Press.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 AT 12:30pm
Richard Newman
Location: CCB 252/253 or Live Stream
Richard Jeffrey Newman has been a faculty member in Nassau Community College’s English
Department since 1989. He is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, T’shuvah (Fernwood Press 2023), Words for What Those Men Have Done (Guernica Editions 2017), and The Silence of Men (CavanKerry Press 2006). He has also published three books of translation from classical
Persian poetry, Selections from Saadi’s Gulistan and Selections from Saadi’s Bustan (Global Scholarly Publications 2004 & 2006) and The Teller of Tales: Stories from Ferdowsi’s Shahameh (Junction Press 2011). His essays and reviews have appeared in a range of publications,
including The American Voice, On The Issues, Salon, Unlikely Stories, American Book Review, LitHub, and Solstice. He is the executive director of Newtown Literary, a Queens-based literary non-profit
and has been curating the First Tuesdays reading series in Jackson Heights since 2012.
His website is richardjnewman.com.
Our previous Lit, Live! Readers:
* writers who are also NCC faculty
2023
Joseph DoughertyKyle Lucia Wu
Richard Jeffrey Newman*
Mary Lannon*
Christina Rau*
Sara Hosey*
Pramila Venkateswaran*
2022
Christina Rau*Joel Mowdy
Safia Jama
Sara Hosey*
Gina Sipley*
John Woods*
2021
John Woods*
Mary Lannon*
Sara Hosey*
Eugene Lim
Nana Brew-Hammond
2020
Linda Opyr*
Sara Hosey*
Carmen Burgan
Mary Lannon*
2019
Kevin Nyugen
Tim Wood*
Mario Susko*
Elizabeth Wood*
Amy King*
Christina Rau*
Joe Pilaro*
Javier Zamora
Matwaala South Asian Diaspora
Poetry Festival
(featuring Usha Akella, Yogesh Patel, Kavita Jindal, ZIlka Joseph, Sophia Naz)
Bi-Centennial Birthday Celebration for Walt Whitman
(featuring Whitman impersonator Darrel Ford and Whitman scholar Iris Jumper)
Carmen Maria Machado
2018
Elizabeth Nunez
Aaron Jackson
Jared Harél*
David Cope
Ralph Nazareth*
Sokunthary Svay
Barbara Barnard*
Mary Lannon*
Pramila Venkateswaran*
John Woods*
Pat Falk*
2017
Barbara Novack
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Elmaz Abinader
Veils, Halos, and Shackles
(featuring visiting writers Charles Fishman, Marisa Frasca, Terri Muuss and Richard Newman*)
Meera Nair
Amy King*
Matthew Rotando*
Barbara Barnard*
Christina M. Rau*
Pramila Venkateswaran
Jared Harél*
Tom D’Angelo*
Shannon Matesky
Olivia Kate Cerrone
2016
Barbara Novack
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Writers of Veils, Halos, & Shackles
Nancy Agabian
Meera Nair
Matt Rotando*
Barbara Barnard*
Pramila Venkateswaran*
Christina M. Rau*
Usha Akelal
Saleem Peeradina
Sasha Parmasad
Varsha Shah
Elmaz Abinader
Robert Lopez
Laurie Foos
2015
Connie Roberts
Cathy Chung
Phillis Levin
Tim Woods*
John Wood*
2014
Teddy Wayne
Dan Josephson
2013
Pamela Sneed
Alena Dillon
2012
Brian Turner
James Arthur
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