Reading: Les Standiford, Peter Meinke & Ann Hood

Eckerd College Writers’ Conference: Writers in Paradise presents an evening reading with Les Standiford, Peter Meinke and Ann Hood.
Reading will be followed by book sale and author signings. This event is free and open to the public. Visit http://www.writersinparadise.com for more information.

Les Standiford is the author of twenty books, including the critically acclaimed works of non-fiction, Last Train to Paradise (a History Channel Top Ten Pick & the One Read choice of more than a dozen public library systems), Meet You in Hell, Washington Burning (both publisher’s nominees for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Awards), The Man Who Invented Christmas (a New York Times Editors’ Choice), Bringing Adam Home (a New York Times best-seller), and most recently, Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct & the Rise of Los Angeles, a featured alternate of the History Book Club. He is also the author of ten novels, including the acclaimed John Deal mystery series. He has received the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, the Frank O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is Founding Director of the Creative Writing Program at Florida International University in Miami and holds the Peter Meinke Chair in Creative Writing at Eckerd. A film adaptation of Les’s The Man Who Invented Christmas, starring Christopher Plummer, Dan Stevens, and Jonathan Price, will be released in late 2017.

Peter Meinke is Poet Laureate of Florida. His latest book, To Start With, Feel Fortunate, received the 2017 William Meredith Award; it’s the 2nd collection of his Poet’s Notebook columns, illustrated by his wife Jeanne. His other recent books include The Expert Witness (2016), a collection of stories, a children’s book in verse, The Elf Poem (2015), and Lucky Bones (2014), his eighth collection in the prestigious Pitt Poetry Series. His work has appeared in The New Republic, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, and dozens of other magazines. He has published over 20 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Truth and Affection, published by the University of Tampa Press (2013), is a collection of his Poet’s Notebook columns with his wife Jeanne’s drawings, from Tampa Bay’s alternative newspaper, Creative Loafing. His poetry has received many awards, including two NEA Fellowships and three prizes from the Poetry Society of America. His book of short fiction, The Piano Tuner, won the 1986 Flannery O’Connor Award.Mr. Meinke directed the Writing Workshop at Eckerd College for many years and has often been writer-in-residence at other colleges and universities.

Ann Hood is the bestselling author of the novels The Book That Matters Most, The Knitting Circle, The Obituary Writer, and The Red Thread. Her memoir, Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, was chosen as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly and was a NYT editor’s choice. She’s received two Pushcart Prizes, two Best American Food Writing Awards, a Best American Spiritual Writing Award and a Best American Travel Writing Award. Her new memoir, Morningstar: Growing Up with Books , will be published in August by WW Norton.