The Writing Generation Series: Reading with Swati Avasthi

Santa Fe Community College’s Library and Creative Writing program present the free online Spring 2026 Writing Generation (Wri-Gen) Series beginning Feb. 18 led by esteemed authors. Each author will read at an introductory session. In a follow-up Zoom meeting the author will engage the participants in a writing exercise/creative session.

Register once at  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SFCCWriGenSpring26 for all sessions.

The sessions begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and will feature these writers: Jamie Figueroa (Feb. 18 reading; Feb. 25 creative session), Swati Avasthi (March 18 reading; March 25 creative session) and Ramona Emerson (Apr. 22 reading; Apr. 29 creative session). At the end of the semester participants will have an opportunity to share their work during the final Zoom session on May 6. Registrants will receive a Zoom link via email the morning of each event.

Swati Avasthi

• Reading: 6 p.m. March 18
• Creative Session: 6 p.m. March 25

Bio: Swati Avasthi (SWA-thee Of-US-thee) started writing when she was five, but she took a serpentine career path (working as domestic violence legal coordinator, a law student, a theater director and stage manager) before she returned to writing. Her first novel, SPLIT (Knopf, 2010) received the International Reading Association Award, Cybils Award, received recognition from 15 US state awards committees, and has been translated into four languages. Her second, CHASING SHADOWS received several starred reviews from School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and was listed as a Best of 2013 by Kirkus, Bank Street College, and YALSA. Swati holds a BA from The University of Chicago and an MFA from University of Minnesota. She teaches at Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her two dogs, two kids, and one husband – though he’s worth two.