Jamila Minnicks is the author of the forthcoming novel Moonrise Over New Jessup, winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. She will read from the novel and discuss the value of exploring American history through fiction.

Anna Rubin’s music engages audiences with dramatic intensity and lyrical beauty. Whether she is composing for acoustic instruments or for electronic and computer- generated media, her work celebrates the varied strands of her musical DNA, ranging from the Jewish cantorial legacy to Renaissance, classical and experimental traditions.

As many as 400 artists a year enjoy residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Fellows, as they are known, frequently visit classes, and each month, the Center hosts an evening Salon Series, in which two or three Fellows are invited to campus to present their work to the community in the Reahard Gallery of the Cochran Library, which is equipped with a grand piano as well as suitable technology for showing visual images. Writers, visual artists, and composers have given a wide range of presentations. Learn more about the VCCA and their events on their website.