Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series to Host Brouwer, Firouz, and Rotella Oct. 13

PITTSBURGH—Writers Joel Brouwer, Anahita Firouz, and Mark Rotella will give a free reading as part of the University of Pittsburgh Writing Program's Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Room 125, in Oakland.

Joel Brouwer is known for his poetry, including his first book of poems, Exactly What Happened (Purdue University Press, 1999), and his second collection, Centuries (Four Way Books, 2003). Exactly What Happened won the Verna Emery Poetry Prize and the Larry Levis Reading Prize. Brouwer's essays have appeared in AGN Magazine, Boston Review, Chelsea Magazine, The Southwest Review, The Paris Review, and others.

Anahita Firouz's debut novel In the Walled Gardens (Little, Brown and Company, 2002) has already garnered attention and praise. Firouz, born and raised in Iran, creates complex characters and universal dilemmas in her novel, which is set in prerevolutionary Iran. In the Walled Gardens is a powerful political novel equal in scope to the best works of V.S. Naipaul, Graham Greene, and other masters of this genre.

Mark Rotella's memoir, Stolen Figs and Other Adventures in Calabria, follows Rotella and his father's adventures in Italy. In the memoir, Rotella describes his intense personal commitment to a country and its inhabitants. An editor at Publishers Weekly, Rotella has written for The New York Times and other publications.

The Contemporary Writers Series is cosponsored by the Wyndham Garden Hotel-University Place, The Book Center, Pitt's Film Studies Program and Composition Program, and the University of Pittsburgh Press.

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10/7/03/tmw