Centenary to Host "Writers on the Rise III"

Hackettstown, N.J. – On Tuesday, November 27, 2012, Centenary College will host “Writers on the Rise III.”  Started in 2010, this annual series showcases aspiring writers from Centenary as well as Warren County Community College. The event will take place in the Front Parlours of the Edward W. Seay Administration Building at 6 p.m.  Guest poet James Arthur will be conducting a reading and signing his books.  In addition, Centenary students and students from Warren Community College will be reading some of their original works for the audience. The event was funded, in part, by the Warren County Cultural and Heritage Commission.  Members of the community are invited to attend and light refreshments will be available.

James Arthur was born in Connecticut and grew up in Canada.  His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, Poetry, Ploughshares and The American Poetry Review.  He has received the Amy Lowell Travelling Poetry Scholarship, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry, a residency at the Amy Clampitt House and a Discovery/The Nation Prize.  His first book, Charms Against Lightning, has been published by Copper Canyon Press as a Lannan Literacy Selection.  He is a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University and lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

“Creative writing is all about self expression, and that is a very powerful thing to share with others,” said Dr. Christopher Adamo, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the English Department. “We are very excited to be giving students of the region a chance to really show off their creativity and passion for their work, as well have Mr. Arthur share his literacy creations with us.”

Centenary College has been working to enhance the amount of creative writing opportunities being offered to students in recent years. Starting in 2009, Centenary began offering a concentration (for English Literature majors) or a minor (for non-English Literature majors) in Creative Writing to offer students opportunities to develop self-expression and self-esteem, while also improving writing skills. Additionally, any student can submit work to Persona, the student writing website, or Prism, a creative writing journal. “Writers on the Rise” is the newest medium that the Creative Writing students are being encouraged to participate in.

For more information on this event, please contact Professor Jared Harel at harelj@centenarycollege.edu or Dr. Christopher Adamo at adamoc@centenarycollege.edu, or call 908-852-1400, ext. 2021.
Founded in 1867 by the Newark Conference of the United Methodist Church, Centenary College’s academic program integrates a solid liberal arts foundation with a strong career orientation. This mix is designed to provide an educational experience that prepares students to succeed in the increasingly global and interdependent world.

Centenary College’s main campus is located in Hackettstown, N.J., with its equestrian facility in Washington Township (Morris County).  The Centenary College School of Professional Studies offers degree programs in three locations: Hackettstown, Parsippany and Edison, and at corporate sites throughout New Jersey.  The School of International Programs recruits international students for study at Centenary and Centenary students for study abroad.