Join us for the final reading of the fall season with writers from Oakland Community College—Orchard Ridge, including faculty David James, R. J. Willey, and students Erica Klavons, Marly Zack, and Saleem Karim. Wednesday Night Sessions is hosted by Joy Gaines-Friedler.

David James‘ second book, She Dances Like Mussolini, won the 2010 Next Generation Indie book award for poetry. He has published four chapbooks, with a fifth one coming in 2014 from Finishing Line Press called No Way to Stop the Bleeding. More than thirty of his one-act plays have been produced from New York City to California. He earned his doctorate from Wayne State University and teaches writing for Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills.

R.J. Willey received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, where he stayed on for a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition. After a two year stint at a small liberal arts university in south Florida, he came to Oakland Community College in 1990, where he taught primarily developmental reading and writing and is now teaching composition, creative writing, and the occasional literature course. He recently completed a young adult novel, which is currently looking for a home.

Erica Klavons, on the brink of turning twenty, attends Oakland Community College. Writing since a young age, she is very excited to be able to participate in this reading. Although she has never been published, she aspires to do so within the next year. Her favorite type of creative writing is poetry, and she wants the world to know it.

Marly Zack is a poetry novice. She enjoys long walks on the beach and very short bios.

Saleem Karim is majoring in Emergency Medical Systems at OCC while working as a manager at McDonald’s. Though he’s been writing stories for over a decade, he says it still feels like a novel experience every time.