This program is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.

Lydia Davis, who was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2013, is an American writer noted for literary works of extreme brevity, commonly called “flash fiction.” Davis is also a short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, and has produced several new translations of French literary classics, including 'Swann’s Way' by Marcel Proust and 'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert. Her books include a novel, 'The End of the Story' (1995), several full-length story collections—'Can’t and Won’t' (2014), 'Varieties of Disturbance' (2007), 'Samuel Johnson Is Indignant' (2002), 'Almost No Memory' (1997), and 'Break It Down' (1986)—and several small-press and limited-edition volumes.

UMMA is pleased to be the site for the Zell Visiting Writers Series, which brings outstanding writers each semester. The Series is made possible through a generous gift from U-M alumna Helen Zell (AB ’64, LLDHon ’13). For more information, please visit the Zell Visiting Writers Series webpage.