The First Friday
Reading Series returns on Friday, May 4th, with a free fiction
reading by two McNeese MFA candidates at 7 p.m. at the Porch Coffee House &
Café in Lake Charles. The monthly reading series is sponsored by the Arts &
Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana and acts as a way to encourage local
poets and writers to further take part in the area’s booming literary scene.
Allie Mariano and
Kelly Chase are both second year graduate students studying fiction in
McNeese’s Masters of Fine Arts program in creative writing which recently was
ranked as the 40th best MFA program in the nation by Poets & Writers. Chase, originally
from Poughkeepsie, NY, attended college in Oneonta, NY, and spent time working
through AmeriCorps in St. Louis before pursing her studies at McNeese. Mariano
is a native of Memphis, TN, and earned degrees in English and French at the
University of Memphis before teaching in Angers, France.
The
Porch is located at 4710 Common Street in Lake Charles, and live music follows
each reading. For more information about the reading series, contact the Arts
Council at (337) 439-2787 or visit www.artsandhumanitiesswla.org.
