Jo Ivy Young and Jeffrey Wolf at the Rock Island Public Library Main Branch -- September 1.
Thursday, September 1, 5:30 p.m.
Rock Island Public Library Main Branch, 401 19th Street, Rock Island IL
On September 1, the winners of the Midwest Writing Center's 2021 and 2022 Great River Writer's Retreats will share their talents at the Rock Island Public Library's downtown branch, with the public invited to appreciate the literary stylings of this year's recipient Jo Ivy Young and last year's honoree Jeffrey Wolf.
Young is currently working on her master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Northern Iowa. She has won the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators Work-in-Progress Award; placed as a nonfiction research finalist for SCBWI; and recently won Author Mentor Match. The writer is also a former archaeologist who loves birds, bugs, and books, and Young labels herself "a verified tree hugger (just ask the trees in her neighborhood)."
Wolf was a recent finalist for the Third Coast Fiction Prize and the Arkansas International Emerging Writer’s Prize. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Gulf Stream, descant, Jewish Fiction, and other literary outlets. Additionally, Wolf has an MFA from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and teaches English at Columbia College Chicago.
With the readings taking place in the library's Community Room, both of the Great River Writer's Retreat prize winners will be sharing some of their experiences and reading from the projects they will be working on during their retreats. The public is invited to join Midwest Writing Center participants in celebrating Young's and Wolf’s talents, as well as the retreat itself, which has proved a profound resource for fostering the development of the written word. The Great River Writer’s Retreat is generously sponsored by Dr. Nicolas Shammas and the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Jo Ivy Young and Jeffrey Wolf participate in their Great River Writers' Retreat readings on September 1, admission to the 5:30 p.m. event is free, and more information is available by contacting the Midwest Writing Center at (309)732-7330 and MWCQC.org.
