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The Charlottesville Reading Series to feature poets, novelist on Nov. 18 

Crystal Graham

new dominion book shop charlottesville The Charlottesville Reading Series will host an in-person reading on Friday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. at New Dominion Bookshop. The event will feature readings by poet Steve Bellin-Oka, novelist Alexis Schaitkin and poet Charlotte Matthews.

The event will be free to attend and open to the public.

Bellin-Oka’s first book of poems, Instructions for Seeing a Ghost, won the Vassar Miller Prize from the University of North Texas Press. He is also the author of four chapbooks, most recently Proviso, a text/image collaboration with the painter Kristen Tomecek. He received his MFA from the University of Virginia and his PhD from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers. He has taught poetry writing at the University of Virginia, the University of Mississippi, Eastern New Mexico University and Ripon College. His poetry has earned him fellowships from Yaddo, the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the Vermont Studio Center and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.

Schaitkin is the author of the novels Elsewhere and Saint X. Her short stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She received her MFA in fiction from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow.

Matthews is the author of five poetry collections, a memoir and a novel. Her fifth poetry collection, The Half Life of Regret, was recently released from Unicorn Press. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Chautauqua, The North American Review, Rattle and The American Poetry Review. An associate professor at the University of Virginia, she teaches writing to non-traditional learners.

The Charlottesville Reading Series was founded by Julia Hoppe and Amie Whittemore in 2014. The Charlottesville Reading Series presents in-person readings of poetry, prose and song in a monthly event for community members in Charlottesville. For more information about the series, visit readingseries.org.

New Dominion Bookshop is located at 404 East Main St. in Charlottesville.

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.