FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – This year’s Arkansas Festival of Writers will commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the Masters of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing and Translation at the University of Arkansas. Distinguished alumni from around the nation will present readings, relate their experiences at the university and celebrate the legacy of the program in their lives and in literature.

William Harrison, emeritus professor of English, and the late James Whitehead founded the creative writing program in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences. Miller Williams, nationally renowned poet, was later also instrumental in its growth. The program has grown to be one of the most prestigious creative writing programs in the country.

Two festival events will be free and open to the public. Novelist Susan Perabo and poet Leon Stokesbury will read from their works at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, in Giffels Auditorium in Old Main.

A 40^th anniversary celebration and reading will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in Giffels Auditorium. This event will, in part, honor the program’s founders, with a selection of their books available for sale, including The Panther, a posthumous volume of Whitehead's previously unpublished poems.