February 19  Bobbie Ann Mason
	A BU grad, Mason is a leading voice in contemporary fiction and is particularly known for her portraits of life in the North/South border states such as rural Kentucky where she grew up. Author of five collections of short stories, including the highly-acclaimed Shiloh and Other Stories; four novels, including the NY Times best-seller In Country (made into a feature film); a memoir, Clear Springs (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize); a feminist study of Nancy Drew; and a biography of Elvis Presley. Her most recent book is a new collection of stories, Nancy Culpepper (2007).
March 4   Rachel Kadish
	Rachel Kadish is the author of the novels From a Sealed Room and Tolstoy Lied: a Love Story, winner of the Binghamton University John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her work has been anthologized most recently in Lost Tribe: New Jewish Fiction from the Edge (Harper Collins, 2003), The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt (Dutton, 2005), and Who We Are: On Being (And Not Being) a Jewish Writer in America (Schocken Books, 2005).
March 11   Afaa Michael Weaver
Photo Credit: Lynda Koolish	While a factory worker Weaver wrote and published poetry, short fiction, and free lance journalism and founded 7th Son Press. He completed his BA degree at Excelsior College concurrent with his MA at Brown University. Between 1985 and 2005, he published nine collections of poetry, had two professional theater productions, published short fiction in journals and anthologies, and served as editor of Obsidian III. His tenth poetry collection is Plum Flower Dance has just been published (Oct. 2007). Weaver is a Cave Canem Elder. At Simmons College in Boston, he is the Alumnae Professor of English and director of the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Center. In addition, he is Chairman of the Simmons International Chinese Poetry conference.
April 8     Denise Duhamel
Photo Credit: Nick Carbó	Duhamel is the author of numerous books and chapbooks of poetry, including Two and Two (University of Pittsburgh, 2005), winner of the Binghamton University Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award. Also published in 2005, Mille et un sentiments (from Firewheel Editions, a press founded by BU alum Brian Clements). Duhamel's other books currently in print are Queen for a Day (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001), The Star-Spangled Banner, winner of the Crab Orchard Poetry Prize (1999); Kinky (1997); Girl Soldier (1996); and How the Sky Fell (1996). She teaches creative writing and literature at Florida International University and lives in Hollywood, FL, with her husband, the poet Nick Carbó.
April 15  Mary Gaitskill
	Gaitskill's most recent novel, Veronica, was listed as one of the "10 Best Books of 2005" by the New York Times and was a finalist for theNational Book Award. The novel also appeared on the bestseller lists of both the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Gaitskill is also the author of the story collections Bad Behavior (1988) and Because They Wanted To (1997), which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and the novel, Two Girls, Fat and Thin (1991). Her short story "The Secretary," provided the basis for the 2002 film starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. As some of her titles suggest, Gaitskill is known for her lucid examination of a range of self-destructive behaviors.