October 08, 2015

Moth Storytelling Founder to Hold Mackey Chair

Poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who founded the storytelling project “the Moth,” will hold Beloit’s Lois and Willard Mackey Chair in Creative Writing this spring.

A host of popular literary programs are related to the Moth, a term Dawes Green and his storytelling friends coined to describe themselves. As they gathered to spin yarns on a friend’s porch in summertime, moths came through a hole in the screen toward the light, a metaphor for the magnetic draw of stories.

One popular Moth program is the Peabody Award-winning Moth Radio Hour, which airs on public radio. Another is the Moth Mainstage, the project’s flagship program, which brings five noted writers to stages across the country to tell true stories, live. The Wall Street Journal called the Moth Mainstage “New York’s hottest and hippest literary ticket.” Beloit will host a Moth Mainstage event on Sunday, April 17.

Dawes Green, author of The Caveman’s Valentine, The Juror, and Ravens, will be the 27th writer to hold the Mackey Chair at Beloit. The Mackey roster includes Billy Collins, Ursula LeGuin, and Denise Levertov among other distinguished writers.

The Moth podcast