October 24th, 2008

FARMINGTON, ME (October 24, 2008)--The University of Maine at Farmington's
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is proud to announce
award-winning writer Elise Juska as the third reader in its 2008-2009
Visiting Writers Series. The reading will be held at 7:30 p.m., Thursday,
November 6, at The Landing in the UMF Olsen Student Center. It is free and
open to the public and will be followed by a signing by the author.

Juska has published three novels: "Getting Over Jack Wagner," named a
Critics Choice by People; "The Hazards of Sleeping Alone;" and "One for
Sorrow, Two for Joy," released in June 2007. She is currently working on
her next novel, "The Teacher Who Did Nothing."

Her short fiction and nonfiction stories, as well as her novella, "Perfect
Weather for Driving," have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies
such as Cold Feet, the Harvard Review, Berkeley Fiction Review,
PhillyFiction, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the essay anthology The Subway
Chronicles: Scenes from Life in New York.

Juska has won many awards throughout college and her career including the
Hawthorne and Sinkinson Prizes for her short stories, the Lt. Albert
Charait Award for best short story and the Tom Williams Memorial Award for
excellence in fiction writing.

She has taught fiction at numerous writing conferences and schools around
New England and does so today at the University of the Arts in
Philadelphia, where she recently received the Director's Award for Teaching
Excellence.

Juska attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and completed her
master's in writing at the University of New Hampshire.

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For more information regarding this 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/RP089-011.JPG

Photo Credit: Submitted photo