Overview of the Visiting Writers Series
"I always knew that the Writer's Studio put together an amazing
group of guest speakers. Salman Rushdie. Seamus Heaney. Robert Bly.
As I have traveled beyond the walls of Indianapolis to other
schools, I have not found a single program that rivaled the quality
and quantity of the guest speakers at Butler, whether they be
poets, authors, and playwrights."
- Jonathan Sundheimer, 2003
The Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series at Butler
University regularly hosts public readings and Q & A sessions
with some of the most influential people in contemporary
literature. Not only have authors like Toni Morrison, Billy
Collins, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Gwendolyn Books, Nick Hornby, David
Sedaris, Allen Ginsberg and Amy Tan shared their work with the
Indianapolis community, but they have interacted directly with
undergraduate students in Butler's English classes.
Students can also choose to take a three-hundred level English
course that features the work of authors in the Visiting Writers
Series. Students in this course are invited to join English faculty
in a private dinner given for each writer when he or she visits the
campus as well as introduce the writers at the public readings.
The program is coordinated by Nonie Vonnegut-Gabovitch
and offers an average of sixteen events each year, all of which are
free and open to Butler students as well as the Indianapolis
community, making the Butler University Visiting Writers Series the
largest and most comprehensive of its kind.