The Winona State University Great River Reading Series will host visiting writer Ryan Van Meter at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5, in the Science Laboratory Center (SLC) room 120. Van Meter will read from his essay collection entitled If You Knew Then What I Know Now.
Van Meter’s new work focuses on his experiences with coming out, the impact of gender and sexuality on the coming-of-age of a Middle American, and an investigation of the etymological origins of the word “faggot.”
Van Meter grew up in Missouri and studied English at the University of Missouri-Columbia. After graduating, he lived in Chicago for ten years and worked in advertising. He holds an MA in creative writing from DePaul University and an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. His work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Iowa Review, The Normal School Magazine, Ninth Letter and Fourth Genre, among others, and has been selected for anthologies including Best American Essays 2009. A recent finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, he has also been awarded residencies by The MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
For more information, contact Debra Cumberland.
