Wednesday: UCI writers at Casa Romantica

UCI MFA Fiction Students will read at the Casa Romantica on Wednesday, December 10, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. The Casa is located close to the San Clemente Pier at 415 Avenida Granada. Seating is limited. Readings are free and open to the public.

Alan Grostephan grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota and received his BA in Spanish and Creative Writing at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He has published a book of translations of young Colombian writers, Stories of Life and Death (Sangfroid Press), and nonfiction articles with both The Wisconsin Academy Review and The Connection.

Leila Mansouri was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She studied history and creative writing at Northwestern University, where, during her senior year, she was a recipient of the Edwin L. Shuman fiction award. She currently lives in Irvine, CA and is working towards an MFA in fiction at UC Irvine.

Matt Nelson is a native of suburban Chicago. He lives now, still, in Irvine, and is currently at work on a novel called The Death and Resurrection Show.

Kim O'Neil is in her third year in the UCI MFA Fiction program, where she is working on a novel set in Boston. She is from Boston, where she worked as the creative director of an animation studio on such cartoons as Home Movies and Dr. Katz.

Emily Quinlan is originally from Morgantown, West Virginia. She obtained her B.A. from the University of Delaware, then lived and worked in New York City before moving to Irvine to obtain her M.F.A.

Margaux Sanchez came to the MFA program at UC Irvine after a stint in book publishing in New York. She's at work on a novel about the lifespan of a family secret, set in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. Her nonfiction has appeared in People Magazine, the Washington Post Book World, and the L.A. Times.