Visiting Writers Series to feature Central Missouri, Northwest faculty members

Northwest Missouri State University’s 2022-23 Visiting Writers Series continues with a night of readings by an Indiana-based poet and a Northwest faculty member.

The event featuring Jenny Molberg and Joseph Avski, the pen name for Northwest Associate Professor of Modern Languages Dr. Jose Palacios Perez, begins at 7 pm, Thursday, February 16, in the JW Jones Student Union Living Room. It is free and open to the public.

Jenny Molberg is the author of three poetry collections, including Berkshire Prize winner “Marvels of the Invisible,” “Refusal” and “The Court of No Record.” She edited the Unsung Masters book, “Adelaide Crapsey: On the Life and Work of an American Master.” Her poems and essays also have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Cincinnati Review, VIDA, The Missouri Review, The Rumpus, The Adroit Journal and Oprah Quarterly, among other publications.

Molberg is associate professor of creative writing at the University of Central Missouri, where she directs Pleiades Press and co-edits Pleiades magazine. She has received fellowships and scholarships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sewanee Writers Conference, Vermont Studio Center and the Longleaf Writers Conference.

Palacios Perez, who joined the Northwest faculty in 2014, has published poetry and short stories in Columbia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Spain, Mexico and the United States. As the author of several books, including “El Infinito se Acaba Pronto,” he won the ninth annual National Novel Award from the Medellin Chamber of Commerce for “Heart of the Scorpio” and was a finalist in the 12th Novel Biennial “Jose Eustasio Rivera” for his novel “The Book of Infernos.”

He has a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Universidad de Antiogia, a master’s degree in bilingual creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso and a doctorate in Hispanic studies from Texas A&M University.

The Visiting Writers Series is designed to enrich Northwest’s educational mission while promoting the values of community, civil discourse and self-expression. Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corporation, Green Tower Press and the Department of Language, Literature and Writing sponsor the series.

The Visiting Writers Series continues March 23 with Mia Mercado and on April 11 with Buki Papillon.