The Brockport Writers Forum is a series of readings and interviews founded in 1967 at the

State University of New York College at Brockport State University of New York Brockport (also known as SUNY Brockport or Brockport State, and previously The College at Brockport) is a public university in Brockport, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). History C ...

by Gregory FitzGerald, then an associate professor in the English Department. FitzGerald, a poet and fiction writer himself, was the first faculty member to teach a creative writing course. Subsequent directors of the forum include

William Heyen William Helmuth Heyen (born November 1, 1940) is an American poet, editor, and literary critic. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County. He received a BA from the State University of New York at ...

, A. Poulin, Jr., Peter Marchant, Rodney Parshall, and Stan Rubin. The current co-directors are poet Ralph Black and fiction writer

Anne Panning Anne Panning is an American writer of both fiction and nonfiction. She teaches English at State University of New York at Brockport and co-directs the Brockport Writers Forum. Biography Anne Panning grew up in Arlington, Minnesota and attended ...

. Over 200 authors have appeared at the forum since its inception, including

June Jordan June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. In her writing she explored issues of gender, race, immigration, and representation. Jordan was passionate about using Black English i ...

, Archibald MacLeish,

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ' ...

, James Dickey, Galway Kinnell,

John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...

W.S. Merwin William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thema ...

W.D. Snodgrass William De Witt Snodgrass (January 5, 1926 – January 13, 2009) was an American poet who also wrote under the pseudonym S. S. Gardons. He won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Life Snodgrass was born on January 5, 1926, in Beaver Falls, ...

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

, Howard Nemerov,

Robert Creeley Robert White Creeley (May 21, 1926 – March 30, 2005) was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school. He was close with Char ...

, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, James Wright, Richard Wilbur,

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

, Billy Collins. Nearly all of the readings have been recorded, and all of the interviews have been preserved on video, providing an invaluable educational resource. The forum also conducted a summer writer's workshop for several years during the 1980s, and has also sponsored residencies, several symposia, and an annual Poetry Prize competition. It continues to offer the Art of Fact Award. A number of international authors have come to the forum, including Bosnian writer Asmir Kujovic, Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky, Moroccan fiction writer

Leila Abouzeid Leila Abouzeid ( ar, ليلة أبو زيد) (born 1950, El Ksiba) is a Moroccan author.'Abu Zayd, Layla', in Simon Gikandi, ed., ''Encyclopedia of African Literature''. Routledge; 2002. . She writes in Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a ...

, and South African novelist

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...

. The presence of the forum on the Brockport campus had a significant impact on the direction of the English Department at both the undergraduate and graduate level. A

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in English with a creative writing dissertation was introduced in 1971, attracting many students who went on to establish national and international reputations in writing. Those who studied creative writing at Brockport include poet

Li-Young Lee Li-Young Lee (李立揚, pinyin: Lǐ Lìyáng) (born August 19, 1957) is an American poet. He was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. His maternal great-grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China's first Republican President, who attempted ...

, poet and editor Michael Waters, novelist and non-fiction writer

James Howard Kunstler James Howard Kunstler (born October 19, 1948) is an American author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger. He is best known for his books ''The Geography of Nowhere'' (1994), a history of American suburbia and urban development, ''The Long ...

, poet and publisher Antonio Vallone, and poet, editor and publisher

Frank Judge Frank Judge (1946–2021) was an American poet, publisher, translator, journalist, film critic, teacher, and arts administrator. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including '' New Directions'', '' The Greenfield Review'', ''The ...

, who also served as associate director of the forum during FitzGerald's final tenure as director during the 1979–80 academic year.

Sources

* The information in this entry is based on SUNY Brockport English Department brochures, program notes, college catalogues, the forum website, and other documents, as well as discussions with the former faculty members who served as directors of the Forum.

External links

The Writers Forum
American writers' organizations State University of New York