The University of South Carolina Aiken (USCA) will host short story writer Karen Russell at their Spring 2024 Oswald Writers Series.
Russell is best known for her debut novel “Swamplandia!” It was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. She is also the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Award, Bard Fiction Prize, Shirley Jackson Award, and the 2012 and 2028 National Magazine Award for fiction.
She will speak and sign books on March 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Etheridge Center.
“It’s rare that the students at USCA get to be around someone of that literary stature,” said Andrew Geyer, chair of the English department at USCA.
Geyer uses her work to teach students since he admires her use of imagery and the supernatural in her work. Geyer’s fiction class is analyzing story cycles from Russell’s “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.”
“There’s a lot there for writing students to learn from,” he said. “She’s at her best with the short story format. Her specialty is books of interconnected stories called story cycles, which is what she’ll be reading from during the Oswald Series event.”
The Oswald Series was started by James and Mary Oswald, longtime residents of Aiken. They donated to USCA, which served as the foundation for the creation of the writer’s series and helped increase the writing culture on campus.
“Only through their generosity do we have the money to invite Karen Russell,” says Geyer. “Without their gift, we would not be having this event.”
