Maggie Nelson is the author of several acclaimed books of poetry and prose, including the forthcoming collection “Like Love: Essays and Conversations” (2024), the national bestseller “On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint” (2021), the National Book Critics Circle Award winner “The Argonauts” (2015), “The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning” (2011), “Bluets” (2009; named by Bookforum as one of the top 10 best books of the past 20 years), “The Red Parts” (2007), “Women, the New York School, and Other True Abstractions” (2007), and “Jane: A Murder” (2005). In 2016 she received a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. She currently teaches at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles, CA. 

The Visiting Writers Reading Series is sponsored by the Department of English, the Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty, the Lawrence Parke Murphy and Robert Goldstein Trust, and by generous donations from the extended Whitman community.