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Joyce Carol Oates spoke to a packed Kelly Writer's House. Credit: Laura Francis

Monday night, students packed into what one organizer described as a “sandbox of a space” to see famous author Joyce Carol Oates.

The author of over 60 novels spent the evening in the Kelly Writers House reading four of her pieces, answering the audience’s questions and signing books for students, faculty and the general public.

Her visit to the Kelly Writers House was a part of the Writers House Fellows program. Each year the students in the Fellows course read the works of three prominent authors.

Each author comes to campus for a two-day visit during which students and community members get the unique opportunity to discuss the authors’ works with them.

Oates recited two prose poems entitled “Visionary Adventures of a Wild Dog Pack” and “Report to an Academy after Kafka.” Additionally, she read her short stories “Good to Know You” and “The Knife.”

Oates is best known for her prolific and versatile writing, which includes novels, short stories, poetry and plays. She has won numerous awards, notably a Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Book Award for the novel Them. Her book We Were the Mulvaneys was a featured work for Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club in 2001.

Earlier in the day, the author held a three-hour discussion with the students enrolled in the Fellows Seminar.

Liberal and Professional Studies student Molly O’Neill, a student in the Fellows seminar, characterized Oates’s writing as tense, straightforward and often disturbing. She felt that Oates’ “writing helps us recognize our own faults and vulnerabilities.”

As a symbol of gratitude, the students traditionally present the visiting author with a gift. Oates will receive a “cat quilt,” which was not yet delivered due to last week’s storm, from Whiskers Rescue of Sayreville, N.J., a reference to the felines that often appear in her work.

The entire program was recorded and will be uploaded to the Kelly Writers House web site, for those who were unable to get a seat for the fully booked event.

The Kelly Writers House Fellows program began in 1999 with a grant from Paul Kelly. Past Fellows include bestselling author David Sedaris and Pultizer prize-winning comic book author Art Spiegelman.

Oates was the first fellow to visit this year. Poet Susan Howe will visit in March, and screenwriter and producer David Milch will speak in April.

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