The University of Pennsylvania will host three celebrated writers as Kelly Writers House Fellows during the 2015 spring semester: poet Anne Waldman, editor and author Dorothy Allison and playwright and novelist Jessica Hagedorn.

The Fellows Program offers young and aspiring writers opportunities to interact with eminent authors, writers, writer-critics and poets at evening readings and informal teaching sessions. Students enrolled in the Writers House Fellows Seminar, taught by Julia Bloch, Writers House associate director, are studying the works of all three Fellows.

Waldman, the first Writers House Fellow to visit Penn, Feb. 16-17, is an active member of the “Outrider” experimental poetry community, a culture she helped create and nurture for more than four decades. She was recently appointed a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Allison will visit Penn March 23-24. She is an award-winning editor for early feminist and lesbian and gay journals such as Quest, Conditions and Outlook. She is also the author of the chapbook The Women Who Hate Me.

Hagedorn will be at Penn April 27-28. Her novels include Toxicology, Dream Jungle, The Gangster of Love and Dogeaters, winner of the American Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Award. She is also the author of Danger and Beauty, a collection of poetry and prose and is the editor of three anthologies. 

During each Fellow’s visit, a reading will take place at Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, on Monday at 6:30 p.m., and a brunch will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. followed by a one-hour public interview and conversation. Attendance for each program is by reservation only. 

RSVPs may be sent to whfellow@writing.upenn.edu. Both programs will be broadcast live worldwide on KWH-TV and archived online. Additional information is available by contacting program coordinator Lily Applebaum.

The Writers House Fellows Seminar course description, syllabi from previous years, images and biographies of this year’s and past Fellows, as well as links to archived readings and Webcasts, are available at http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/people/fellows/