Bucks County Community College, which has been bringing widely acclaimed authors and poets to Newtown for more than 60 years, invites the public to the next Wordsmiths Reading Series event on Thursday, April 3, featuring author Carolyn Kuebler.
Kuebler, whose debut novel “Liquid, Fragile, Perishable” was published by Melville House in 2024, will read from her works at 12:30 p.m. in room 142 of historic Tyler Hall on the Newtown Campus.
For the past decade, Kuebler has been the editor of the New England Review, a quarterly literary magazine published by Middlebury College. She also co-founded the magazine Rain Taxi. Her stories and essays have been published in The Common and Colorado Review, among other prominent periodicals. Her essay “Wildflower Season,” published in The Massachusetts Review, won the 2022 John Burroughs Award for Nature Essay.
Originally from Allentown, Pa., Kuebler has an MFA from Bard College and a BA from Middlebury College. In addition to editing NER, she is a justice of the peace, a volunteer with 350 Vermont, a “bad birdwatcher, and an even worse gardener.” She lives in Middlebury, Vermont, with her husband, Christopher, and daughter, Vivian Ross.
The Wordsmiths Reading Series is another way that the College connects the community with the region’s vibrant literary heritage, according to Language and Literature Professor Ethel Rackin, Ph.D.
“These events give students an opportunity to connect what they’re learning in their classes with the wider world of living writers and discourse,” said Rackin, director of the Wordsmiths Reading Series and a published poet. “Historically, the series has featured fiction writers as well as poets, and this seemed like a fine time to revive that tradition.”
Rackin, who is also director of the Bucks County Poet Laureate Program, has been organizing these public collaborations since 2010, shortly after she began teaching at Bucks. The College – which was founded in 1964 and opened its doors the following year – has a long history of hosting literary greats, including poet Allen Ginsberg and many award-winning authors.
The Wordsmiths Reading Series, which is free and open to the public, is funded by the College’s Cultural Affairs Committee. To learn more, visit bucks.edu/wordsmiths or contact the School of Language & Literature at [email protected] or 215-968-8150.
Bucks County Community College is located at 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, Pa., 18940, where there is ample free parking. For a campus map and directions, visit bucks.edu/newtown.
