The series kicks off with novelist Nathan Hill and poet Michael Robins. Hill's recent novel, Wellness, is about modern marriage, art and suburbia. It is a New York Times bestseller, an Oprah's Book Club pick and has been praised as a "perfect novel for our age." Robins's recent collection of poetry, The Bright Invisible, is his fifth collection. It explores "the promise of love alongside the certainty of absence." Both authors will read from their work, answer questions and sign books.

The Center for Writers at USM brings internationally acclaimed authors of poetry and fiction to Hattiesburg for public readings, workshops, and individual conferences with Center graduate students.