Kirk Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Program
Agnes Scott’s Kirk Writer-in-Residence Program is a signature of our distinctive creative writing program. Each fall,we host a distinguished writer on campus to teach a course to Agnes Scott students and give a public reading of their work. This unique opportunity allows Agnes Scott students the chance to learn and write with some of the most celebrated and interesting writers working today. Writers-in-Residence teach a course, visit other in-session classes, and give a public reading with book signing.
The English Department at Agnes Scott College is thrilled to welcome Lauren Gunderson as Kirk Distinguished Writer-in-Residence in the fall of 2024.
Lauren M. Gunderson is one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list thrice over that time. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School, where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ ATCA New Play Award, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Arthur L. Weissberger Award, and John Gassner Award for Playwriting. Revolutionary Women, her new anthology of five plays, was published by Bloomsbury in 2023. Her work is published at Playscripts, Dramatists Play Service, and Samuel French. She is the book writer for musicals with Dave Stewart and Joss Stone, Ari Afsar, Joriah Kwamé, Kira Stone, and Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk.
The Kirk Writer-in-Residence Program is made possible by the James T. and Ella Rather Kirk Fund, which was established by alumna, artist, writer, and trustee Mary Wallace Kirk, in honor of her parents. The Kirk Fund supports and enriches academic programs in history, music, literature, art, and philosophy.
Previous Kirk Writers-in-Residence:
- October 2014: Pam Houston taught “Turning the Physical World into Story.”
- October 2015: Monique Truong taught “Writing Plenty, Writing Hunger.”
- October 2016: Richard Blanco taught “Tasting Life Twice: Writing Your Universal Story.”
- Fall semester 2017: Melissa Fay Greene, “Short-Form Literary Journalism.”
- Fall semester 2018: Melissa Fay Greene, “Short-Form Literary Journalism.”
- Spring semester 2019: Melissa Fay Greene, “Long-Form Literary Journalism.”
- October 2019: William Boyle taught “Reading and Writing Noir.”
- November 2019: Aracelis Girmay taught “On Poetry.”
- November 2020: Christine Schutt, "How Does a Story Mean?"
- October 2021: Aminatta Forna, "Creative Nonfiction Workshop"
- October 2022: Roger Reeves, "Poetry Workshop"
- October 2023: Angie Cruz, "Fiction Workshop"