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Apr
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Visiting Writers Series | Keith Pilapil Lesmeister
Mount Mercy’s Visiting Writers Series will host Keith Pilapil Lesmeister, author of We Could’ve Been Happy Here.
Event details
Come to see Keith Pilapil Lesmeister—essayist and published fiction writer—who will join us as part of the Visiting Writers Series.
Keith will lead a series of activities to enable participants to create their own fiction, followed by a reading and Q&A session. Both events will be held in Flaherty Community Room 204 in Basile Hall.
Generative Writing Workshop | 12:30-1:50 PM
Reading and Q&A | 5:30-6:30 PM
About
Keith Pilapil Lesmeister is the author of two books, including the story collection We Could’ve Been Happy Here. Most of his fiction is set in Iowa, some in Cedar Rapids. His stories and essays have appeared in American Short Fiction, Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Good Men Project, and elsewhere. He received his M.F.A. from the Bennington Writing Seminars and serves as editor of Cutleaf. A 2023-25 Rural Regenerator Fellow through Springboard for the Arts, he currently lives in Iowa’s Driftless region.
Visiting Writer Series
When you study at Mount Mercy, you learn not only from your fellow students and our faculty, but also from the many prestigious writers who visit campus and share their expertise and vision.
Here are the past visiting writers, including poet laureates, award-winning writers (National Book Award, the Booker Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize), best-selling novelists, and more.
Sandra Benitez, Chris Bohjalian, Charles Baxter, Ethan Canin, Ana Castillo, Lan Samantha Chang, K. L. Cook, Stuart Dybek, Larry Heinemann, Khaled Hosseini, Bharati Mukherjee, Thisbe Nissen, ZZ Packer, Josef Skvorecky, Barry Unsworth, Mary Helen Stefaniak, Benjamin Percy, Samrat Upadhyay, Daniel Orozco, Karen Russell, Cristina Henriquez, Keith Lesmeister, Patricia Park, Chuy Renteria
Amy Butcher, Anne-Marie Cusac, Joy Castro, Matt Freedman, Patricia Hampl, Alex Kotlowitz, John T. Price, Scott Russell Sanders, Patricia Foster, Tim Wise
Jorie Graham, Joy Harjo, Robert Haas, Ted Kooser, Li-Young Lee, Heather McHugh, Czeslaw Milosz, Naomi Shihab Nye, Susan Power, Gary Soto, William Stafford, Camille Dungy, Michael Sowder, Frank X Walker, Jennifer Perrine, Drew Dellinger, James McKean, Aaron A. Abeyta, YaNi Davis, Hannah Saltmarsh, Danez Smith, Donika Kelly, Carol Tyx, Emily Kingery
"The visiting author event was a wonderful opportunity to connect with an author whose book we had read in class." —Katie Goetz ’23
"Visiting writers let you see and know the process of a professional." —Casey Birkecht '13
"The joy of the Visiting Writer Series is about connecting with a kindred soul. Aspiring writers are able to discuss their own fears and doubts with someone who has experienced the journey." —Kim Flugga-Ciha ’11
