Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series, Public Reading: Joy Castro and Brook McClurg

The UAF Department of English is thrilled to present an evening featuring two exceptional authors, Joy Castro and Brook McClurg, in the next installment of the Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series. This event highlights their incredible literary achievements and connection to the Permafrost Magazine 2022 Book Prize in Nonfiction, with Joy Castro serving as the prize judge and Brook McClurg as the award-winning author.

Public Reading: Joy Castro and Brook McClurg

Date: Thursday, April 3rd, 2025

Time: 7pm-8:30pm

Location: Arnold Espe Multimedia Auditorium, Museum of the North

Zoom Webinar Option: https://alaska.zoom.us/j/83614137696

Join us for an unforgettable evening of literary exploration on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 7 p.m. in the Arnold Espe Multimedia Auditorium at the UAF Museum of the North or online via Zoom at https://alaska.zoom.us/j/83614137696. The event will be followed by a Q&A session and a book sale and signing with the authors. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with these remarkable storytellers and celebrate their impactful contributions to literature. This event is free and open to the public.

About Joy Castro
Joy Castro is the award-winning author of the 2023 historical novel One Brilliant Flame, set amidst the nineteenth-century anticolonial Cuban insurgent community in Key West; the environmental novel Flight Risk, a finalist for a 2022 International Thriller Award; the post-Katrina New Orleans thrillers Hell or High Water and Nearer Home; the story collection How Winter Began; the memoir The Truth Book; and the essay collection Island of Bones, which won the International Latino Book Award.  She edits the Machete series in innovative nonfiction by underrepresented voices at The Ohio State University Press and edited the craft collection Family Trouble: Memoirists on the Hazards and Rewards of Revealing Family. Co-editor of the 2024 volume Tears and Flowers: A Poet of Migration in Old Key West, a new bilingual edition of the 1918 poetry collection Lágrimas y flores, she is the Willa Cather Professor of English and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where she directs the Institute for Ethnic Studies.

About Brook McClurg
Brook McClurg is assistant professor of nonfiction in the English and Comparative Literature Department at San Jose´ State University. His first book, A Dictionary of Modern Consternation, won the Permafrost Prize in Nonfiction. A Fulbright research fellow, his nonfiction, fiction, poetry and translation work have appeared in Cagibi, Iron Horse Literary Review, Pidgeonholes, Wanderlust, Exposition Review, Loch Raven Review & others. His essay “Geometry of Absence” was listed as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2021 and he is currently editor in chief for Reed Magazine, California’s oldest literary journal.

About Permafrost Magazine:
Located at 64° 50′ N., Permafrost is the farthest north literary journal for writing and the arts. We’re proud of Permafrost’s forty years as Interior Alaska’s foremost literary magazine. 

Founded in 1977, Permafrost is housed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks English Department, and run by dedicated creative writing graduate students. We publish a winter online issue as well as a spring print issue, both of which feature compelling poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction by established writers and new voices alike.

Since 2014, Permafrost Magazine has held an Annual Book Prize contest for the best manuscript (genre alternating each year). The winner of the contest receives $1000.00 and publication through the University of Alaska Press. Each year, the book prize genre alternates through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Browse online & purchase back issues at uaf.edu/permafrostmag.

About Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series Public Readings:
The Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series culminates in captivating public readings by local and nationally renowned authors. These free events showcase the talents of featured writers as they bring their work to life, offering audiences a chance to experience literature in a powerful, personal way. Since its inception in the early 1970s, the series has welcomed some of the most celebrated voices in literature, including Robert Pinsky, Lucille Clifton, Scott Russell Sanders, Mark Doty, Camille Dungy, and Terry Tempest Williams. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to their work, the public readings provide an unforgettable evening of storytelling and inspiration, connecting the community to the transformative power of the written word.

Support the Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series:
Do you enjoy the work we do? Consider supporting the series through an online donation here: https://engage.alaska.edu/donation-with-cart?fid=0472NsYmU3g%3d&fdesc=rbNFjJRKRNi9wgN2Q%2bJYX9CVwk17dLkaaEZ61%2bdeEVE%3d
 

Thank you to our sponsors:
We are deeply grateful to the SpringHill Suites by Marriott and the Bridgewater Hotel, Trademark Collection by Wyndham, for their generous hospitality in hosting our authors during their stay in Fairbanks. Your support and kindness are invaluable in helping us bring esteemed writers to Alaska, enriching our community and celebrating the power of storytelling. Thank you for being such an integral part of this journey.

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the UA Museum of the North and Christina Parks-Zlinszky, Director of Visitor Services, for hosting our public readings in the Arnold Espe Multimedia Auditorium. Your generosity in providing this remarkable venue creates an inspiring space for our events, enabling us to share the magic of storytelling with our community.

And, lastly, we also extend our heartfelt thanks to Megan Bean from the UAF Office of Development for her dedication and hard work in supporting the UAF Department of English's Midnight Sun Visiting Writers Series. Her efforts have been instrumental in fostering the success of this program and enhancing its impact on our community.