September 29th, 2008

FARMINGTON, ME (September 29, 2008)--University of Maine at Farmington's
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is proud to announce
award-winning nonfiction writer, poet and essayist Richard Hoffman as the
second reader in its 2008-09 Visiting Writers Series. Hoffman will read
from his work at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, October 9, 2008, in The Landing in
the Olsen Student Center. The reading is free and open to the public and
will be followed with a signing by the author.

Richard Hoffman's publications include two books of poetry, "Without
Paradise" and "Goldstar Road," as well as a memoir entitled "Half the
House," which the Boston Globe referred to as "Compelling," and Publishers
Weekly called, a "moving boyhood memoir." His other work, both prose and
verse, has appeared in Agni, Ascent, Harvard Review, Hudson Review, The
Literary Review, Poetry, Shenandoah, Witness and elsewhere, as well as in a
number of anthologies. He has received several fellowships and awards, most
recently a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in fiction and The
Literary Review's Charles Angoff Prize. Hoffman is currently the
Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College and also teaches in the Stonecoast
MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

More about the UMF Creative Writing Program

UMF's Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, the only such degree in
the state of Maine, is a very selective program that offers a strong
combination of writing and literature courses in the context of study in
the liberal arts. This program of fiction, poetry and nonfiction writing is
taught by a faculty of active and distinguished authors. Apprenticeship
opportunities with Alice James Books--a national poetry press that makes its
home on the UMF campus--student publications and area newspapers are
available to students. BFA students are also engaged by a highly active
student Writers Guild and have the opportunity to attend readings by some
of America's most important writers. Recent graduates have begun careers in
journalism, teaching, librarianship, and publishing.

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For more information on the event, please contact UMF Assistant Professor
Jeffrey Thomson, Dept. of Creative Writing, at 207-778-7454, or at
jeffrey.thomson@maine.edu.

EDITOR'S NOTE: You will find photo at
http://www.umf.maine.edu/campus/docs/RP089-005.jpg

Photo Credit: UMF photo