Distinguished Visiting Writer
Pittsburg State University

Pittsburg, KS
Department of English
October 2 - 3, 2022
Press Release
 

Contact:          PSU English Department

                        Chase Dearinger

                        620-235-4233

                        cdearinger@pittstate.edu

 

Writer and Former Faculty Member S. Portico Bowman to Read at Pittsburg State University

 

PITTSBURG, KS— Writer and former art professor S. Portico Bowman will be visiting PSU at 7 pm, Monday, October 3. The reading will be held in the Governors Room of the Overman Student Center. The event is free to attend; it is sponsored by the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series and the Student Fee Council.

 

Bowman taught for twenty years in Kansas, where she worked as an art professor, art writer, and gallery director at Pittsburg State University. She returns to campus, though, to share a different artform—fiction. She will be reading from her debut book, Cashmere Comes From Goats. According to Professor Casie Hermansson, “[The novel] tells an engaging and at times urgent story but its real dazzle is in the moment by moment, where we all live. Portico’s prose is wonderful and does every one of those moments justice.” This will be Bowman’s first time reading fiction at PSU, and professors are interested in what the crossover entails. According to Professor Chris Anderson, “Creativity takes many forms, and it’s not easy to master more than one art form, but Portico Bowman has done it. I'm eager to hear more about how her talent for visual art and her talent for writing fiction intersect."

 

Bowman grew up on the Canadian Prairies and has for different periods of time lived in Massachusetts, California, and Hawai’i. She received her MFA degree in ceramics at UT Knoxville in Tennessee. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto, and was recently awarded a $25,000 Canada Council for the Arts Research and Creation grant for her second book, Would You Give Up Arms For Wings: a story inspired by the visionary life and writings of Paulus Berensohn. Her first novel, Cashmere Comes From Goats, was published in May 2022 with Stonehouse Publishing. Portico lives with her husband Tom and their understanding cat Florence in Prairie Village, KS, and teaches at Francis Parker School in San Diego, CA when she can.

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