Clare Beams’ story collection “We Show What We Have Learned” has made a strong first impression. It was a Kirkus Best Debut of 2016, was longlisted for the Story Prize and was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the Shirley Jackson Award.
Beams will read stories from that acclaimed collection on Thursday, Oct. 24, when the Creative Writers Reading Series returns to Penn State Behrend. Her 6 p.m. reading and the reception that will precede it are free and open to the public. Both events will be held in the Metzgar Center lobby.
“Beams’ fiction is at once otherworldy and deeply grounded in the real,” said Tom Noyes, professor of English and creative writing. “Her stories are remarkable for how they engage readers morally and psychologically while simultaneously conjuring surreal and fantastical visions.”
Beams’ fiction has appeared in One Story, n+1, Ecotone, The Common, the Kenyon Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation.
The Creative Writers Reading Series is produced by Penn State Behrend’s B.F.A. in Creative Writing degree program with support from the Clarence A. and Eugenie Baumann Smith Fund. For additional information, call 814-898-6108 or visit behrend.psu.edu/readings.