Austinist Preview: Local Prize-winning Writers Tonight

With a new school year starting, the Utter Reading Series is turning its attention to two local hotshot writers who are still students at UT's Michener Center for Writers. Both were finalists for the 2008 Keene Prize for Literature. Both will complete their MFAs next May, at which point who knows if Austin can hold on to them, so we're going to be sure to catch them tonight.

S.E. Smith, a poet/fiction writer, has also been a finalist for a Pushcart Prize, and for The Atlantic's student writing contest. Her poetry has been published widely, and she was recently included in the Best New Poets 2008 anthology. She also claims to be working on a book of eulogies for people she's never met.

Smith Henderson, a fiction writer/screenwriter, had his script, Dance With The One, produced this summer through the University of Texas Film Institute. While wearing his fiction writing hat, he's a regular contributor to The New Orleans Review. He was a finalist for the Keene Prize in 2007 as well as 2008. Many of his stories take place in his native Montana.