The Department of English

Writer's Voice

What is Writer's Voice

Writer’s Voice is California State University, Chico’s literary arts reading series. 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(opens in new window) for more information about upcoming events.

Fall 2023 Series

Andrea Ross, Nonfiction

Thursday, October 12 | 6:30 p.m. | PAC 134

henry hughesAndrea Ross

Andrea Ross's book, Unnatural Selection: A Memoir of Adoption and Wilderness, about her years working in the backcountry while searching for her biological family, was published by CavanKerry Press in 2021. During the 1980s and 90s, Andrea worked throughout the American West as a wilderness guide, a National Park Service Ranger, and a backcountry Search and Rescue leader. The recipient of several California Arts Council grants and a fellowship at the Mesa Refuge, her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, The Huffington Post, Terrain, The Conversation, Bay Nature, Mountain Gazette, and many other outlets. She is on the faculty of the University Writing Program at UC Davis. 


Keenan Norris, Fiction/Nonfiction

Thursday, November 9 | 6:30 p.m. | ARTS 150 Recital Hall

caroline kimKeenan Norris

Keenan Norris’s latest novel is The Confession of Copeland Cane, the winner of the 2022 Northern California Book Award. His essays have garnered a 2021-22 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award and 2021 Folio: Eddie Award. His editorials and essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Review of Books, San Francisco Chronicle, Alta, and LitHub. Most recently, he's also authored the biblio-memoir Chi Boy: Native Sons and Chicago Reckonings. Keenan is an Associate Professor and coordinator of the Steinbeck Fellows Program at San Jose State University. 


Writer's Voice

Graduate Student Reading | Poetry, Fiction, and NonFiction

Tuesday, December 5th | 6:30 p.m. | Arts 150 Recital Hall

engl 620

Zach Bennett

Jen Carter

Krystle Holzhauer

Brooke Kenney

Morgan Konefal


Free & open to the public. Masks are welcome.

The Writer’s Voice is California State University, Chico’s literary arts reading series. Funded by contributions from the Department of English and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the Writer’s Voice introduces contemporary writers to citizens of the North Valley.

For more information about this reading, contact Rob Davidson, Professor of English, rgdavidson@csuchico.edu.

Writer’s Voice online: https://www.csuchico.edu/engl/news-events/writers-voice.shtml

Facebook: www.facebook.com/WritersVoiceCSUChico/

Past Events

Select past Writer’s Voice events have been recorded and are available online.

  • List of Previous Speakers

    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