Writer's Voice

Funded by contributions from alumni and friends, the Department of English, and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Writer’s Voice introduces contemporary writers to citizens of the North Valley. All readings are free and open to the public.

Follow Writer's Voice on Facebook for more information about upcoming events.

Spring 2026 Series

Armen Davoudian, Poetry

Wednesday, March 4 | 7:30 pm | ARTS 150

Armen Davoudian grew up in Isfahan, Iran, and is the author of the poetry collection The Palace of Forty Pillars (Tin House, 2024), which was long-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry and won the Northern California Book Award in Poetry. Davoudian has translated works from Persian into English, including Fatemeh Shams's Hopscotch (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2024). He has an MFA from Johns Hopkins University and is currently a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University. His poems and translations from Persian appear in Poetry magazine, The Hopkins Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere.

Michelle Ott, Cross-genre

Tuesday, April 14 | 7:30 pm | PAC 134

Michelle Ott is the author of the illustrated memoir Outer Space is Closer Than Antarctica, published by Chronicle Books in 2025. Her artwork, writing, and drawings have appeared in books, magazines, museums, and galleries and her artists’ book Current Occupant is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum Library. Michelle has a BFA in photography from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MFA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Past Events

List of Previous Speakers

Fall 2025

• Ibe Liebenberg- poetry
• Fred Aroyyo- non-fiction
• Grant Faulkner- fiction

Spring 2025

• Diana Koi Nguyen- poetry
• Sarah Pape- poetry
• Rob Davidson- fiction
• Annie Wenstrup- poetry

Fall 2024

• Stephen D. Gutierrez- fiction
• Anna Moore- fiction
• Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj- poetry

Spring 2024

• Farnaz Fatemi- poetry
• Bonnie Tsui- nonfiction

Fall 2023

• Andrea Ross- memoir
• Keenan Norris- fiction

Spring 2023

• Yesika Salgado - Poetry
• Henry Hughes - Poetry
• Caroline Kim - Fiction

Fall 2022

• Author Jean Hegland & Graphic Novel Artist Loming
• Anna B. Moore - Fiction
• Alondra Adame - Poetry & Creative Nonfiction
• Rae Gouirand - Poetry
• Sarah Pape - Creative Nonfiction
• Graduate Student Reading - Poetry & Fiction

Spring 2022

• Nicole Stellon O'Donnell - Poetry

Fall 2021

• Tom Lin - Fiction

Spring 2021

• Lia Purpura

Fall 2020

• Fred Arroyo

Fall 2019

• Juan Alvarado Valdivia
• Peg Alford Pursell
• Nancy Au
• Ingrid Keriotis

Spring 2019

• Jamel Brinkley - Fiction
• Mai Der Vang - Fiction, Creative Nonfiction & Poetry
• Rob Davidson - Fiction
• Jose Antonio Rodriguez - Poetry & Creative Nonfiction

Fall 2018

• Michelle Tea - Poetry
• Lynn Freed - Nonfiction

Spring 2018

• Sasha Pimentel - Poetry
• Beth Spencer - Poetry
• Ryan Van Meter - Nonfiction
• Luke Davies - Poetry/Fiction

Fall 2017

• Graduate Student Reading - Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction
• Naomi Williams - Fiction
• Mary Troy - Fiction
• Rob Davidson - Fiction

Spring 2017

• Neal Snidow - Fiction

Fall 2016

• Graduate Student Reading - Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction
• Martha Collins - Poetry

Spring 2016

• Louis B. Jones - Fiction
• Sean Hill - Poetry

Fall 2015

• Christian Kiefer - Fiction
• George Keithley - Fiction

Spring 2015

• Carole Simmons Oles - Poetry 
• Chris Cokinos - Creative Nonfiction
• Dimitri Keriotis - Fiction
• Gary Thompson - Poetry and Fiction
• Matthew Frank - Creative Nonfiction
• Steve Gutierrez - Poetry and Fiction

Fall 2014

• Joan Frank - Fiction & Nonfiction
• Wendy C. Ortiz - Memoir
• Doug Rice - Fiction & Nonfiction

Spring 2014

• Joanne Harris Allred - Poetry
• Dr. Daryl Farmer - Nonfiction
• Brian Turner - Poetry & Memoir

Fall 2013

• Brenda Hillman - Poetry
• Jon Raymond - Fiction
• Peggy Shumaker - Poetry

Spring 2013

• Martha Collins - Poetry
• Henry Hughes - Poetry
• Patricia Ann McNair - Fiction

Fall 2012

• Fred Arroyo - Fiction
• Nick Flynn - Poetry & Memoir
• Rae Gouirand - Poetry
• Andrew Lam - Fiction
• Martin Puchner

Spring 2012

• Camille T. Dungy - Poetry
• Steven Edwards - Nonfiction
• Troy Jollimore - Poetry

Fall 2011

• Jeanne Clark - Poetry

Spring 2011

• Laleh Khadivi - Fiction
• Sally McNall - Poetry
• Carol Sklenicka - Fiction & Biography
• Rob Magnuson Smith - Fiction