The Gertrude C. & Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series
About The Vanderbilt Reading Series
The Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series is named in honor of Vanderbilt founder Cornelius Vanderbilt’s great-grandson and his wife. Each semester, the series brings several professional writers to campus to read from their works and visit classes. This unique and extraordinary program gives English department students and faculty, the Vanderbilt community, and Nashville’s citizens a chance to meet and talk with some of the best writers of our day.
For more information about the Reading Series and to sign up for our e-mail announcement list, please fill out the form below. Additionally, make sure to follow us on Instagram at @vandycreativewriting for more updates on events!
2026-2027 Readings
The Vanderbilt Department of English and Creative Writing Program is pleased to introduce the 2025-2026 installment of The Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series.
Unless otherwise stated, events are held on Thursday evenings. Literary Salon Gatherings begin at 6:30 pm, Readings are at 7:00, and Book Signings are at 8:00.
To view the pop-up exhibits for the writers, please click here.
September 10: TBD
September 24: TBD
October 8: Elise Paschen, Poetry
October 14: Major Jackson, Poetry
October 29: TBD
November 12: TBD
December 3: Victoria Redel, Fiction
Visit the Vanderbilt University Bookstore or view their website here to pick up a book by a writer featured in the Vanderbilt Reading Series!
Event Photos
Spring 2026
February 12: Mitchell S. Jackson
April 2: Max McDonough and Kiyoko Reidy
Fall 2025
November 6: Marie-Helene Bertino
Previous Visiting Writers
Please see below for a list of previous visiting writers by year and genre.
Fall 2025 – Spring 2026
- Poets: Kimiko Hahn, Victoria Chang, Stephanie Burt, Prageeta Sharma, Max McDonough, Kiyoko Reidy, Melissa Range
- Fiction Writers: Lydi Conklin, Quan Barry, Marie-Helene Bertino, Rita Bullwinkel, Mitchell Jackson
Fall 2024 – Spring 2025
- Poets: Paisley Rekdal, Ilya Kaminsky, Gregory Pardlo, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Tiana Clark, Stephanie Niu
- Fiction Writers: Edward P. Jones, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Ottessa Moshfegh, Adam Haslett, Adam Ross, Alina Grabowski, Kelsey Norris
Fall 2023 – Spring 2024
- Poets: Patricia Smith, Michael Collier, Maggie Millner, Megan Fernandez, Edgar Kunz, Anders Carlson-Wee, Bianca Stone
- Fiction Writers: Sidik Fofana, Claire Jiménez, Rebecca Makkai, Sigrid Nunez, Jamil Jan Kochai, Angie Cruz
Fall 2022 – Spring 2023
- Poets: Aria Aber, Jill Bialosky, Carolyn Forché, John Murillo
- Fiction Writers: Uwem Akpan, Katie Kitamura, Megha Majumdar, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, Laura Van Den Berg
Fall 2021 – Spring 2022
- Poets: Didi Jackson, Carl Phillips, Sonia Sanchez, Carlina Duan, Shane McCrae, Lisa Russ Spaar, Cara Dees, Mark Jarman, Vievee Francis
- Fiction Writers: Sheba Karim, Deb Olin Unferth, Lydia Peelle, Tommy Orange, Brandon Taylor, Rebecca Bernard, Lorraine López, Aimee Bender
- Nonfiction/Memoir Writers: Deb Olin Unferth, Kate Daniels, Margaret Renkl
Fall 2020 – Spring 2021
- Poets: Timothy Donnelly, Major Jackson, Destiny Birdsong, Edward Hirsch, Monica Youn, Toi Derricote
- Fiction Writers: Dana Johnson, Simon Han, Lee Conell, Lorraine Lopez, Odie Lindsey, Luis Alberto Urrea, Alexander Chee
- Nonfiction/Memoir Writers: Fred Arroyo, Myriam Gurba, Alex Espinoza, Daisy Hernandez
Fall 2019 – Spring 2020
- Poets: Michelle Penaloza, Beth Bachmann, Kate Daniels, Nicole Sealey, Chad Abushanab, Melissa Range
- Fiction Writers: Lysley Tenorio, Samantha Hunt, Charles D’Ambrosio
- Nonfiction Writers: Daisy Hernandez
Fall 2018 – Spring 2019
- Poets: Danez Smith, Carl Dennis, Blas Falconer, Cathy Hong, Lisa Dordal, Marie Howe, Mary Szybist, Tiana Clark, Edgar Kunz, Anders Carlson-Wee, Beth Bachmann, Kate Daniels
- Fiction Writers: Leopoldine Core, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Piyali Battacharya, Justin Quarry, Carmen Maria Machado, Nayomi Munaweera, Margot Livesey
- Nonfiction Writer: Camille Dungy
Fall 2017 – Spring 2018
- Poets: Camille Dungy, Molly McCully Brown, Marilyn Kallet, Arthur Smith, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Kendra DeColo
- Fiction Writers: Kevin Brockmeier, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Daniel Alarcón, Lee Conell, Susan Choi, Danzy Senna, Amitav Ghosh, Bryn Chancellor, Amy Hempel
- Nonfiction Writer: Joy Castro
Fall 2016 – Spring 2017
- Poets: Terri Witek, Ross Gay, Ocean Vuong, Ada Limón
- Fiction Writers: Danielle Evans, Ann Patchett, Meg Wolitzer, Jenny Offill
Fall 2015 – Spring 2016
- Poets: Paul Muldoon, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, T.R. Hummer, Wyatt Prunty, Nate Marshall, Jacqueline Osherow
- Fiction Writers: Charles Baxter, Ottessa Moshfegh, Jaimy Gordon, Lan Samantha Chang, Julian Barnes
- Nonfiction Writers: Brando Skyhorse, Daisy Hernandez
Fall 2014 – Spring 2015
- Poets: Bruce Beasley, David Kirby, A. Van Jordan, Natasha Trethewey, Jane Hirshfield
- Fiction writers: Kevin Wilson, Gish Jen, Stuart Dybek, Leah Stewart, Claire Vaye Watkins, Jamie Quatro
- Nonfiction writers: Amy Hoffman, Sarah Gorham
Fall 2013 – Spring 2014
- Poets: Kevin Young, Lynn Emanuel, David Wojahn, Julie Bruck, Eavan Boland
- Fiction writers: Deborah Eisenberg, Edmund White, Steve Stern, Justin Torres, Christine Schutt, Chris Bachelder
- Nonfiction writer: Dwight Garner
Fall 2012 – Spring 2013
- Poets: Nikky Finney, Jennifer Grotz, Robert Wrigley, Adam Zagajewski, Chase Twichell, Thomas Lux, Tracy Smith, Stephen Dobyns, Garrett Hongo, Michael Longley
- Fiction writers: Dan Chaon, Madison Smartt Bell, Adam Ross, Lauren Groff, Cary Holladay
- Nonfiction writer: Charlotte Pierce Baker
Fall 2011 – Spring 2012
- Poets: Billy Collins, Christopher Buckley, Terrance Hayes, Nick Flynn, Alicia Ostriker, Elizabeth Spires, Don Paterson
- Fiction writers: Jaimy Gordon, Rattawut Lapchoreonsap, Anthony Doerr, Wells Tower, Lorrie Moore, Manuel Munoz, Maile Meloy, Bonnie Jo Campbell
Fall 2010 – Spring 2011
- Poets: Frank Bidart, Carl Phillips, Ciaran Carson, Tom Sleigh, Jericho Brown, Edward Hirsch, Molly Peacock, Mary Kinzie, Bobby Rogers
- Fiction writers: Bobbie Ann Mason, Tom Perrotta, Salvatore Scibona, Peter Ho Davies, Aimee Bender, Lydia Peelle, Holly Goddard Jones
Fall 2009 – Spring 2010
- Poets: Cornelius Eady, Jean Valentine, Rebecca Seiferle
- Fiction writers: Randall Kenan, Jill McCorkle
- Memoirists: Bich Minh Nguyen, Honor Moore
A
Diane Ackerman, Julia Alvarez, Agha Shahid Ali, Craig Arnold, Kingsley Amis
B
Richard Bausch
C
Fred Chappell, J. M. Coetzee, Judith Ortiz Cofer
D
Junot Diaz, Ellen Douglas, Rita Dove, Pam Durban
E
Stanley Elkin, Martín Espada
F
Ruth Fainlight, Richard Ford
G
Ellen Gilchrist, Marita Golden, Mary Gordon, Linda Gregerson, R. S. Gwynn
H
Jessica Hagedorn, Seamus Heaney, Tony Hoagland, Garrett Hongo, Andrew Hudgins, T. R. Hummer
J
Donald Justice
K
Pauline Kael, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maxine Kumin
L
Wally Lamb, Sydney Lea, Chang-rae Lee, David Lehman, Philip Levine, Margot Livesey, Robert Lowell, Alison Lurie
M
Erin McGraw, Medbh McGuckian, William Matthews, Peter Matthiessen
N
Antonya Nelson, Marilyn Nelson
P
Anne Patchett, V.S. Pritchett, Wyatt Prunty
S
Alan Shapiro, Allan Sillitoe, Lee Smith, Elizabeth Spencer, Gerald Stern, Eileen Simpson
T
Richard Tillinghast, Rose Tremain
V
Ellen Bryant Voigt
W
Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, James Wood, Charles Wright
Y
Karen Yamashita, Al Young