Writers Center Reading Series to feature ECC faculty Feb. 16

Elgin Community College faculty members Bill Akers, Eckhard Gerdes, Kristen Hren and Glenn Joshua will be featured during the Writers Center Reading Series on Thursday, Feb 16. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Building H Arts Center, Room H142, 1700 Spartan Drive.

Bill Akers has been a writing instructor for over two decades and worked as a professional writer for advertising agencies in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. His doctorate from University of Southern California focused on creativity and the cognitive processes of writing, resulting in articles appearing in the English Journal and the Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology. One of his screenplays was recently optioned.

Akers is an English adjunct faculty member at ECC.

Eckhard Gerdes has published books of poetry, drama and 14 books of fiction, including the novels "Hugh Moore" (for which he received an &Now Award) and "My Landlady the Lobotomist" (nominated for the 2009 Wonderland Book Award for Best Novel of the Year). Gerdes was also a 2003 nominee for Georgia Author of the Year. His most recent books are a tongue-in-cheek work of creative nonfiction, "How to Read;" a novel, "White Bungalows;" and the collection, "Three Plays."

Gerdes is a tutor for The Write Place and an English adjunct faculty member at ECC.

Kristen Hren was schooled in the valleys at University of Cincinnati (bachelor's in English literature), in the mountains at Northern Arizona University, by the oceans at San Francisco State University (master's in English literature), and on the plains at Northern Illinois University. She is currently an ECC English instructor and critical thinking crusader.

Glenn Joshua is a retired second-generation New Orleans firefighter with a master of fine arts degree from the University of New Orleans. His work has appeared in the anthologies "Fertile Ground," "Dark Eros," "Kente Cloth," "Catch the Fire" and "From a Bend in the River," along with published articles in Tribe Magazine, Times Picayune and the Chicago Tribune.

Joshua, a Desert Storm veteran of the U.S. Army's Second Armored Division, teaches creative writing at ECC.

All Writers Center readings are free and open to the public. A pre-reading dinner with the authors will be held before the event at 5:30 p.m. Books will be available for sale and signing.

For reservations and more information, contact Rachael Stewart at rstewart@elgin.edu.