Minnesota State Mankato’s 2024-2025 Good Thunder Reading Series Concludes Thursday with Visit from Writer Claire Dederer
Minnesota State University, Mankato’s 2024-2025 Good Thunder Reading Series will concludes its season Thursday, April 17 when it hosts writer Claire Dederer with a series of events.
All of the events are free and open to the public.
April 17 schedule:
- 10-11 a.m. – Workshop, Memorial Library, 1st floor, southwest corner
- 3-3:50 p.m. – Craft Talk, Centennial Student Union, Room 253/4/5
- 7:30-8:15 p.m. – Reading with Claire Dederer and Andreas Scholar Amy Buechler, an MFA student, Centennial Student Union, Room 253/4/5. Books available for purchase.
The following information about the writer and Andreas scholar was provided by the Good Thunder Reading Series: Claire Dederer is a memoirist, essayist and critic. Her most recent book is the national bestseller, “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma” (Knopf, 2023), a New York Times notable book that was named a best book of 2023 by the Washington Post, The New Yorker, Elle, Esquire, Kirkus, Electric Lit, Apple Books, Audible, The Sunday Times, Vulture, Oprah Daily, Star Tribune and Publishers Weekly. Her previous books are the critically acclaimed “Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning” (Knopf, 2017) and “Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses” (FSG, 2010), which was a New York Times bestseller.
Dederer is a longtime contributor to The New York Times. Her essays, criticism and reviews have also appeared in The Paris Review, The Atlantic, The Nation, Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, Slate, Salon and many other publications. She began her career as the chief film critic for Seattle Weekly. She is the recipient of a Hedgebrook residency and a Lannan Foundation residency.
Amy Buechler is an MFA candidate in creative writing, focus in poetry, at Minnesota State Mankato, where she is teaching, and head poetry editor for the Blue Earth Review. She earned her BFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. After studying under Danez Smith in 2019, Buechler’s debut full-length collection of poetry, “Grafting,” was published in November 2020 with Atmosphere Press, under the name Amy Lundquist. She has been published in Charlotte Viewpoint, For Women Who Roar, Eastern Iowa Review and other publications.
Founded in 1981, the Good Thunder Reading Series brings nationally and internationally acclaimed writers from diverse backgrounds and literary traditions to Mankato, Minnesota, with the goal of promoting access to great literature, inspiring creativity, and connections in our communities, and fostering lively conversations about how writers work and why writing matters.
The Good Thunder Reading Series is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
The 2024-25 Good Thunder Reading Series also receives support from Minnesota State Mankato’s Department of Creative Arts; College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; the Nadine B. Andreas Endowment; the Eddice B. Barber Visiting Writer Endowment; the Robert C. Wright Endowment; the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council; Friends of the Library; and individual donors.
For more information or to get involved, contact Robin Becker, a creative writing faculty member at Minnesota State Mankato, at robin.becker@mnsu.edu, or visit gt.mnsu.edu.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 15,251 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 26 colleges and seven universities.
