50th Anniversary Celebration Program
Thank you for supporting Ploughshares and for joining us to celebrate our 50th anniversary.
Opening Remarks
Alice Hoffman is the bestselling author of over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults. Her most recent novel, The Book of Magic, is the fourth book in her wildly popular Practical Magic series. She has been a guest editor for Ploughshares twice and will serve again in that capacity in Spring of 2023. In addition to being a member of the Ploughshares Advisory Board, she is the founder and patron of the distinguished Alice Hoffman Fiction Prize awarded through Ploughshares.
Writers in Conversation
John Skoyles is the poetry editor of Ploughshares and a member of the Writing Committee of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He taught for many years in the MFA program at Emerson College. The award-winning author of eleven books of poetry and prose, the most recent, a collection of poems, Yes and No.
DeWitt Henry is the founding editor of Ploughshares where he served as active editor and director from 1971-1995 and a professor emeritus at Emerson College. He is the editor of five anthologies and the author of seven books, most recently the essay collection Endings and Beginnings.
Don Lee was editor-in-chief of Ploughshares from 1995 to 2007, and was, for many years, the journal’s managing editor. He is the author of five books of fiction, including a story collection The Partition, forthcoming in 2022. The recipient of many literary awards, he teaches in the MFA program at Temple University.
Ladette Randolph has been editor-in-chief of Ploughshares since 2008. She is the editor of two anthologies and the award-winning author of five books: a memoir and four works of fiction, the most recent is the novel Private Way, forthcoming in 2022.
Guest Editor Highlights
Lauren Groff is the author of five acclaimed books of fiction, most recently the novel The Matrix, a finalist for the National Book Award. She is the recipient of numerous distinguished awards and fellowships and served as guest editor of Ploughshares in Summer 2015.
Elizabeth Strout is the author of six books of fiction, including the Pulitzer-Prize winning short story collection Olive Kitteridge and her most recent book Olive, Again. Her books have won numerous awards and citations. She was guest editor of Ploughshares in Spring 2010.
Gish Jen, the recipient of many distinguished awards and fellowships, is author of eight acclaimed works of fiction. Her most recent book is the novel The Resisters. She was guest editor of the Fall 2000 issue of Ploughshares.
Writers in Conversation
Introduction by Heidi Pitlor. Heidi Pitlor is the author of three novels. A former senior editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, she has been the series editor of The Best American Short Stories since 2007. While doing work for her MFA at Emerson College, she was an editorial assistant at Ploughshares.
Laura van den Berg served as a guest editor for Ploughshares in Spring 2021. An award-winning author of five books of fiction, the most recent a collection of stories, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears. She teaches at Harvard University.
Margot Livesey is the much-admired and critically acclaimed author of nine books of fiction and a book of essays on writing. Her most recent book is the novel The Boy in the Field. For many years, she served as the fiction editor at Ploughshares and guest-edited the Fall 2002 issue of the journal. She has taught in many prestigious writing programs and is currently on the permanent faculty of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Guest Editor Highlights
Rigoberto González is the award-winning author of numerous books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and books for children. His most recent book is the poetry collection The Book of Ruin. He is director of the MFA in Creative Writing at Rutgers University. He guest-edited the Spring 2019 issue of Ploughshares.
Sue Miller’s first published story appeared in Ploughshares in the fall of 1980. Since then she has published thirteen best-selling works of fiction, the latest of which is the novel Monogamy. She served as guest editor for Ploughshares in Fall 1993.
Carl Phillips is the acclaimed author of numerous books of poetry and nonfiction, the most recent of which are the forthcoming books: Then the War, a book of poems, and My Trade Is Mystery, a book of essays). A professor of English at Washington University, he guest edited the Spring 2003 issue of Ploughshares.
Writers in Conversation
Introduction by Mario Alberto Zambrano. Mario Alberto Zambrano is a professional dancer and associate director at Julliard. An alumnus of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he is the author of the much-admired novel Loteria. The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, in 2020 he was awarded the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction for his Ploughshares’ story “Some of You,” an excerpt from a new work-in-progress.
Jamel Brinkley is the author of the award-winning short story collection A Lucky Man. He has been the recipient of many awards and fellowships. He teaches at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and will serve as a guest editor of Ploughshares in Summer 2022.
Aimee Bender is the widely acclaimed and much admired author of six books of fiction, most recently the novel The Butterfly Lampshade. A professor in the writing program at USC, she served as the guest editor for the 50th anniversary issue of Ploughshares in Summer 2021.
Guest Editor Highlights
Rita Dove is the distinguished Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She was Poet Laureate of the United States in 1993 and from 2004 to 2006 was Poet Laureate of Virginia. She has published and won acclaim in multiple genres, and she won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1987. She, along with her husband Fred Viebahn, served as guest editor for Ploughshares in Spring 1990.
Fred Viebahn published his first book, a novella, at the age of nineteen, quickly followed by a book of short stories and a book of poems at the age of twenty-one. He went on to publish four award-winning novels (in German). In the fall of 1976, while on a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Iowa, he met his future wife, Rita Dove, with whom he guest-edited the Spring 1990 issue of Ploughshares. He is currently Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Virginia.
Stewart O'Nan is the best-selling author of numerous novels and books of nonfiction, the most recent of which is the forthcoming novel Ocean State. He lives with his family in Pittsburgh. He served as guest editor of Ploughshares in Summer 2017.
Writers in Conversation
Introduction by Allison Truj. Aliison Truj is an award-winning performance poet and book designer. She was a 2018 National Poetry Slam semi-finalist representing the city of Boston with the Cantab Lounge. She is the Assistant Director of Production and Design at Ploughshares, and her visual branding work is the face of organizations like the Radius of Arab-American Writers and the Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam Tournament, among others. She hosts a podcast about breakfast food and occasionally is a panelist on The Incomparable podcasts.
Tom Perrotta is the bestselling author of nine books of fiction, including, most recently, the novel Mrs. Fletcher. Two of his novels were adapted to Oscar-nominated films, and his novel, The Leftovers, was adapted into the Peabody Award-winning HBO series by the same name. He will be the guest editor of the Summer 2023 issue of Ploughshares.
Claire Messud is the bestselling author of seven books: a work of nonfiction and six critically acclaimed books of fiction, the most recent of which is The Hunters. She is the recipient of many distinguished awards and fellowships, and along with her husband, James Wood, served as a guest editor for the Summer 2016 issue of Ploughshares.
Guest Editor Highlights
Jim Shepard is the critically-acclaimed author of thirteen books, most recently the novel Phase Six. He has received many awards and fellowships and was a finalist for the National Book Award. A professor at Williams College, he served as a guest editor of the Fall 2010 issue of Ploughshares.
Eleanor Wilner is a distinguished poet, the author of numerous books of poetry and one book of criticism. Among her many awards and citations she is the recipient of a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation. She is on the faculty of the Warren Wilson MFA program and was the guest editor for the Spring 2009 issue of Ploughshares.
Gary Soto is the author of over forty-five beloved books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction for adult, children, and young adult readers. Also a playwright and filmmaker, he taught for many years at UC Berkeley and UC Riverside. He served as guest editor for the Spring 1995 issue ofPloughshares.
Closing Remarks
Ladette Randolph