Reading by Authors Tom Drury and Amy Leach

Editor and Writer: A Literary Conversation

Brigid Hughes, editor, talks with two of the celebrated writers whose work she has published – fiction writer Tom Drury and nonfiction writer Amy Leach – about the relationship between editor and writer and about the role of journals and small presses in today’s literary landscape.

Brigid Hughes is the founding editor of "A Public Space," an independent magazine of literature and culture that debuted in 2006 and was named Best New Literary Magazine by "The Village Voice." She is a contributing editor with Graywolf Press, which recently announced a collaboration with the magazine to publish A Public Space Books. In 2011, Hughes received the PEN/Nora Magid Award for Magazine Editing for "her commitment to quality literature and for her larger purpose." Previously, she worked at "The Paris Review," where she succeeded George Plimpton as editor upon his death in 2003.

Tom Drury has been described by "The New York Times Book Review" as "a major figure in American Literature" and by the "San Francisco Chronicle" as "one of America’s finest, most imaginative authors." His novels include "The End of Vandalism," an ALA Notable Book; "The Black Brook;" "Hunts in Dreams," a "New York Times" Notable Book; and "The Driftless Area" and "Pacific," both "New York Times" Editors’ Choices. His short fiction and essays have appeared in "The New Yorker," "A Public Space," "Ploughshares," "Granta," "The Mississippi Review," and "The New York Times Magazine."

Amy Leach is the winner of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award, the Whiting Writers' Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Nautilus Book Award. Her debut collection of essays, "Things That Are," was published in 2012 and was a "Huffington Post" Best Book Pick and a Best of 2012 Pick from IndieBound. "The Washington Independent Review of Books" called "Things That Are" "A magical work of natural history... filled with crystalline imagery and intriguing nuggets of information." Her writing has appeared in "The Iowa Review," "A Public Space," "The Wilson Quarterly," "Orion," "The Los Angeles Review," and the anthology "Best American Essays."

Funding for these events is provided by the Dee Hull Everist Visiting Speaker Series