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Rachel Lyon : AUP’s 2024 Writer in Residence

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The American University of Paris (AUP), the Centre Culturel Irlandais (Irish Cultural Center) in Paris, and the University of Kent Paris School of Arts and Culture (PSAC) are pleased to announce that Rachel Lyon has been appointed this year’s sixth Writer in Residence. We look forward to welcoming her to our community in Paris where she will be part of on-campus events and engage with students at both our universities during the month of October.

Rachel Lyon is author of the novel Self-Portrait with Boy, a meditation on how a private tragedy can become public art, which was a finalist for the Center for Fiction's 2018 First Novel Prize. Her 2024 novel Fruit of the Dead has been named most anticipated book of 2024 by outlets including Elle, Oprah Daily, and People magazine. Lyon is also the author of short works of fiction and non-fiction that have appeared recently in The Bennington Review, LitHub, One Story, and The Rumpus.

In addition to her own writing, Lyon is a teacher of creative writing for institutions including, most recently, Bennington College, and is cofounder of the reading series Dream Away and Ditmas Lit. She lives with her husband and two young children in Western Massachusetts.

The Paris Writer’s Residency invites practitioners in poetry, prose or other genres of writing to explore interdisciplinary writing possibilities and engage with students at the residency’s partner institutions. Lyon will therefore take part in three key events: a day of interaction with creative writing students at AUP, a reading and workshop with PSAC master’s students, and a public lecture sponsored by the Centre Culturel Irlandais.

The Paris Writer’s Residency has previously been held by translator Daniel Hahn (2018), poet and translator Sampurna Chatterjee (2019), novelist Sophie Mackintosh (2021), poet, editor and translator E. Tracy Grinnell (2022), and creative non-fiction writer and editor Tinashe Mushakavanhu (2023).