The Living Writers Series at SUNY Oswego has announced a diverse fall lineup -- with its series, titled “Play,” building upon a long history of visiting writers that spans Pulitzer Prize winners and #1 New York Times bestselling authors.

Literary superstars including Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, will visit the university in person, while other authors will headline virtual events.

Daniel Handler’s wildly popular books include "A Series of Unfortunate Events," also available as a movie and Netflix series. His books have sold more than 70 million copies worldwide, and have been adapted for film, stage and television, and he has earned both the Peabody and Writers Guild of America awards.

“And Dan is in great company on the fall roster,” says Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, the professor of English and creative writing who coordinates the "Living Writers Series" class. “Dan’s reply, when I sent him the fall series lineup, was: ‘What a list! I have several pals here.’”

Beyond Handler, the fall lineup includes fiction writer Gish Jen, who has published short work in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and elsewhere. Her work is included in "The Best American Short Stories of the Century" -- and has been featured in a PBS "American Masters" special on the American novel. Oprah Magazine calls Jen’s writing “a triumph of humor and sorrow,” and Juno Diaz famously called Jen “the Great American Novelist we're always hearing about.”

Other authors who will visit Frazier’s classroom and give fall semester talks -- all free and open to the public -- include poet Major Jackson, a John S. Guggenheim fellow whose accolades range from a Pushcart Prize to the Whiting Writers’ Award; screenwriter Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, a Chilean-Serbian filmmaker and alum of both the SUNY system and the Sundance Institute Labs, whose award-winning debut feature film, "Mutt" (about a trans man who must confront his past in one day, bumping into his ex-boyfriend and others after transitioning) is currently a popular Netflix choice; and Paul S. Flores, the playwright and spoken word legend who co-founded Youth Speaks/Brave New Voices and also is an HBO Def Poetry Jam poet as well as a PEN award-winning novelist, and many more.

“The source of creative work is play,” Frazier said. “Long before Daniel Handler built a global fan base, he built narratives from his imagination. How do writers balance work and play, tragedy and comedy, formal elements and flourishes? How do they persist in the face of social, practical or financial challenges? This fall’s series seeks to answer these questions.”

Frazier also said the creative writing program was not alone in developing the series. It is supported by ARTSwego and made possible by the Student Arts Fee, as well as the Oswego Reading Initiative, Subnivean magazine and a Library of America grant secured by Roberta Hurtado of the Latino and Latin American Studies program in partnership with Penfield Library.

Students interested in the fall 2024 Living Writers Series can register for CRW 300 OY1: Living Writers Series. Event information will be available in the fall at calendar.oswego.edu and oswego.edu/artswego.