McNeese Hosts Poet and Creative Nonfiction Writer Julia Koets

The McNeese State University’s Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing will host the poet and creative nonfiction writer Julia Koets for a free reading and book signing at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21 in the Stokes Auditorium in the Hardtner Hall.

Julia Koets is the author of “PINE,” “Hold Like Owls” and “The Rib Joint: A Memoir in Essays”- a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist. Koet’s essay “The Rib Joint” was named a Best American Essays 2020 notable essay. She is the winner of the 2017 Red Hen Press Nonfiction Book Award judged by Mark Doty, the 2019 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2011 South Carolina Poetry Book Prize judged by National Book Award Winner Nikky Finney. Her essays and poems have been published in literary journals including Creative Nonfiction, Indiana Review, Nimrod, The Los Angeles Review, Carolina Quarterly and Portland Review.

She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of South Carolina and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Cincinnati. She’s an assistant professor of creative nonfiction at the University of South Florida.

Founded in 1981, McNeese State University’s Master of Fine Arts creative writing program is the oldest MFA program in Louisiana and one of the oldest in the southeast.

Persons needing accommodations as provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact the ADA Coordinator at 337-475-5428, voice; 337-475-5960, fax; 337-562-4227, TDD/TTY, hearing impaired; or by email at cdo@mcneese.edu.