TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama’s Bankhead Visiting Writers Series will end the 2003 season with a May Day Extravaganza first book reading from authors Andy Duncan, Jill Christman, Jennifer Davis, Kevin Waltman and Eliot Wilson. The reading will take place on May 1 in 205 Smith Hall on the UA campus beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Andy Duncan

Andy Duncan received his master’s in creative writing from North Carolina State University and a master of fine arts in fiction writing from UA in 2000. He works as the assistant director of student media at UA. His first book, “Beluthahatchie and Other Stories” published by Golden Gryphon in 2000, won a World Fantasy Award. His story “The Pottawatomie Giant” won another World Fantasy Award, and his novella “The Chief Designer” won a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. He has contributed stories to many other journals, contributed a chapter on alternate history to “The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction,” 2003, and co-edited the forthcoming anthology, “Crossroads: Southern Stories of the Fantastic,” to be published by Tor in 2004.

Jill Christman

Jill Christman’s first book “Darkroom: A Family Exposure” won the Associated Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction in 2001. She received her master of fine arts from UA 1999. After graduating, she served as the coordinator of the creative writing program at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Currently she is an assistant professor of English at Ball State University in Indiana.

Jennifer Davis

Jennifer Davis’ first book of short stories “Her Kind of Want,” won the Iowa Short Fiction Award in 2002, just a year after she received her master of fine arts from UA. Her stories have also been published in such journals as the “Apalachee Review,” “Greensboro Review,” “Haydens Ferry Review” and “Crab Orchard Review.” She is a recipient of the Prague Summer Seminars Fellowship in Fiction. Davis currently teaches creative writing at the University of Eastern Washington and is the editor of the literary magazine, “Willow Springs.”

Paul Guest’s first book of poems, “Resurrection of the Body and The Ruin of the World,” won the New Issues Poetry Prize in 2002 and was published this year. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in “The Iowa Review,” “Third Coast,” “Quarterly West,” “Greensboro Review,” “South Carolina Review,” “Poet Lore,” “Fine Madness” and others.

Guest received his master of fine arts in poetry from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at UA.

Kevin Waltman’s first book, the young adult novel, “Nowhere Fast,” was published as part of the Push series by Scholastic in 2002. He is a graduate of De Pauw University, Indiana. He currently is completing his master of fine arts in fiction at UA.

Eliot Wilson

Eliot Wilson’s first book of poetry, “The Saint of Letting Small Fish Go,” won the Cleveland State University Poetry Prize in 2002 and was published this year. He received his doctorate in English from UA in 2002 and serves as an adjunct professor.

The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series is made possible by an endowment from the Bankhead Foundation, The University of Alabama’s Program in Creative Writing, the department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, please contact UA’s creative writing program at 205/348-0766 or visit www.bama.ua.edu/~writing.