ODU Profs to Feature in Virginia Festival of the Book

March 11, 2015

Blake Bailey Phil Raisor

Blake Bailey, Old Dominion's Mina Hohenberg Darden Professor of Creative Writing and an acclaimed author, will be featured in "Stories in Our Lives," the headline program of the upcoming Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville.

Bailey will be part of a panel discussion on stories, biographies, memoirs and lives that will be hosted by actor Tim Reid. The event will be held Sat., March 21 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Paramount Theater.

Bailey most recently authored a memoir, "The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait." He also has written highly regarded biographies of John Cheever, Charles Jackson and Richard Yates.

He will joined on the panel by National Public Radio book critic Maureen Corrigan, Edwidge Danticat and Newberry Award winner Katherine Paterson.

Tickets to the event are $15.

Also on Thu., March 19, ODU's professor emeritus of English Phil Raisor will read from his new collection of poetry, "Headhunting and Other Sports Poems" as part of the fest's "Wide World of Sports: Fact, Fiction and Poetry." The reading will take place at 2 p.m. at the Central JMRL Library, 201 E. Market St. in Charlottesville. The program is free.