A.K. Smith Reading Series

The Trinity College English Department welcomes acclaimed authors and poets to share their work with our community through the A.K. Smith Reading Series. These events celebrate the art of creative writing, offering students and faculty the chance to hear new voices, engage with established writers, and experience literature as a living, evolving practice.

Fall 2025 A.K. Smith Reading Series Schedule

Readings are open to all! Food and beverages will be served.

Stephanie Elizondo Griest

Tuesday, September 30th @ 4:30pm, Reese Room, Smith House

Stephanie Elizondo Griest is a globetrotting author from the Texas/Mexico borderlands. Her six books include Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; Mexican Enough; All the Agents and Saints; and Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life. She has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, VQR, The Believer, BBC, Orion, Lit Hub, and Oxford American. 

Denne Michele Norris

Wednesday, November 5th @ 4:30pm, Reese Room, Smith House

Denne Michele Norris is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the 2022 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. A 2021 Out100 Honoree, her writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction, and appears in McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and ZORA. When the Harvest Comes (Penguin-Random House, 2025) is her debut novel.

Traci Brimhall

Tuesday, November 18th @ 4:30pm, Reese Room, Smith House

Traci Brimhall is a University Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Kansas State University, as well as the 2025 Poet-in-Residence at the Guggenheim. She is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Love Prodigal (Copper Canyon Press, 2024). Her nonfiction debut, The Grief Artist, will be published by Sarabande Books in 2026.