Spotlight on the Arts Reading with Kristen Iskandrian and Mike McClelland

The University of Georgia Creative Writing Program is pleased to present a Spotlight on the Arts reading featuring CWP alumna Kristen Iskandrian and current Ph.D. student Mike McClelland.  This free event will take place at Ciné (234 W Hancock Ave, Athens, GA 30601) on Tuesday, November 7th at 7 p.m.

Kristen Iskandrian's novel, Motherest, received a glowing review from the New York Times.  Her work has been published most recently in McSweeney's, Ploughshares, ZYZZYVA, Joyland and Epoch. Her story "The Inheritors" was included in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2014 as a Juror Favorite, and she was a juror for The O. Henry Prize Stories 2015 along with Tessa Hadley and Michael Parker. Born in Philadelphia, she currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband and two daughters. She received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Creative Writing from University of Georgia in 2009.

Before becoming a writer, Mike McClelland worked as a gravedigger, wedding singer, antique salesman, and as a marketing strategy director for clients like Toyota, MillerCoors, and Buffalo Wild Wings. Like Sharon Stone and the zipper, he hails from Meadville, Pennsylvania. He has lived on five different continents but now resides in Georgia with his husband, Simon, and a menagerie of rescue dogs. His work has appeared in a variety of anthologies and literary journals and he frequently collaborates with his brother Casey, an abstract artist. He is a former member of WPP’s prestigious marketing fellowship program and holds a B.A. from Allegheny College, a M.Sc. from The London School of Economics, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Georgia College. He is currently pursuing his PhD in English/Creative Writing at the University of Georgia. His first book, Gay Zoo Day, was released by Beautiful Dreamer Press on September 1st.