Established in the late 1980s by Willard Mackey’47 in honor of his wife, Lois’45, this program brings an author of distinction to the Beloit College campus for all or part of one semester to teach an advanced course in creative writing. “Mackeys,” as these professors are called, also give public readings, which are among the most anticipated and best attended events on campus.

Residents

Janisse Ray

2025

Award-winning author exploring the borderland of wild nature and human culture in books including Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, More about Janisse Ray

Kimberly Blaeser

2024

Poet, photographer, and scholar, is past Wisconsin Poet Laureate and founding director of Indigenous Nations Poets. More about Kimberly Blaeser

Lynda Barry

2023

Painter, cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, editor, and teacher known for inspiring imagination and creativity. More about Lynda Barry

Bonnie Jo Campbell

2022

Novelist, short fiction writer, and a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. More about Bonnie Jo Campbell

Marilyn Chin

2020

Chinese American poet Marilyn Chin is the winner of the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly Prize for lifetime achievement. More about Marilyn Chin

Anne Elizabeth Moore

2019

Editor-in-chief of the Chicago Reader, author and winner of many best book awards. More about Anne Elizabeth Moore

Rebecca Makkai

2017-2018

Chicago-based author and winner of the Chicago Writers Association award, and The Borrower, a Booklist Top Ten Debut which has been translated into eight languages. More about Rebecca Makkai

Robert Wrigley

2016-2017

Recipient of the Kingsley Tufts Award, The Poets’ Prize, the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award, and a Pacific Northwest Book Award, as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts. More about Robert Wrigley

George Dawes Green

2015-2016

Created the global storytelling organization The Moth in 1997 and is the author of three highly acclaimed novels: The Caveman’s Valentine, The Juror and Ravens. More about George Dawes Green

Susan Choi

2014-2015

A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation More about Susan Choi

Scott Russel Sanders

2013-2014

Author of 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, and distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University, where he taught from 1971 to 2009. More about Scott Russel Sanders

Kevin Young

2012-2013

author Author of seven books of poetry and finalist for the National Book Award and won the Paterson Poetry Prize. More about Kevin Young

Giles Foden

2011-2012

Best known for his award-winning novel, The Last King of Scotland and won a Whitbread First Novel Award and the Somerset Maugham Prize. More about Giles Foden

James McManus

2010-2011

A novelist, poet, and a winner of the Peter Lisagor Award for sports journalism. More about James McManus

Linda Gregerson

2009-2010

A 2007 National Book Award finalist, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, three Pushcart Prizes, and a Kingsley Tufts Award. More about Linda Gregerson

Scott Russell Sanders

2008-2009

Author of more than 20 books, a range of novels, collections of stories, and works of personal nonfiction and Pulitzer Prize-nominated. More about Scott Russell Sanders

Richard Bausch

2007-2008

Fiction writer who is the author of over 17 novels and short story collections and in 2004, he won the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence. More about Richard Bausch

Robert Stone

2006-2007

Called one of the best of the post-Vietnam fiction writers, won the National Book Award for Dog Soldiers (1974) and the PEN Faulkner prize for A Flag for Sunrise (1981). More about Robert Stone

William Least Heat-Moon

2005-2006

One of America’s preeminent travelogists whose Blue Highways (1982) spent 42 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. More about William Least Heat-Moon

Billy Collins

2003-2004

Appointed as the 2001-2003 Library of Congress Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry and was a Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize finalist. More about Billy Collins

Pam Houston

2002-2003

Award-wining author whose stories have been selected for the Best American Short Stories Collections, the O. Henry Awards, the Pushcart Prize, and the Best American Short Stories of the Century. More about Pam Houston

Patricia Hampl

2001-2002

Regents Professor and McKnight Distinguished Professor at the University of Minnesota where she teaches in the master of fine arts program of the English department. More about Patricia Hampl

Bei Dao

2000-2001

Prominent Chinese dissident poet who has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize. More about Bei Dao

Ron Carlson

1999-2000

Novelist and writer of short stories who currently teaches at the University of California-Irvine. More about Ron Carlson

Li-Young Lee

1998-1999

Highly acclaimed Asian-American poet and winner of many awards for his riveting autobiographical verse. He won won the 2002 William Carlos Williams Award and he Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award. More about Li-Young Lee

Amy Hempel

1997-1998

One of the most prominent of the new American “minimalist” writers. She won the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2008, and she received the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction in 2009. More about Amy Hempel

Denise Levertov

1996-1997

Wrote and published 20 books of poetry and was perhaps the most influential woman poet in the United States since the 1940s. More about Denise Levertov

Edward Hoagland

1995-1996

Author best known for his nature and travel writing. His nonfiction has been widely praised and he is the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships. More about Edward Hoagland

Peter Matthiessen

1994-1995

One of the most prolific American writers since World War II. He is co-founder of The Paris Review, and received a National Book Award. More about Peter Matthiessen

Carolyn Kizer

1993-1994

Author of eight books of poetry and Pulitzer Prize winner. More about Carolyn Kizer

Rick Bass

1992-1993

Author of 26 books who’s nature-writing fiction has been called one of “tomorrow’s classics” by critic George Plimpton. More about Rick Bass

Ursula K LeGuin

1991-1992

One of the most celebrated writers of speculative fiction in the United States who won the Hugo and Nebula awards in 1970. More about Ursula K LeGuin

William Stafford

1990-1991

One of the best-loved poets in the United States who received a 1962 National Book Award was appointed the twentieth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1970. More about William Stafford

Tess Gallagher

1989-1990

A noted writer of both poetry and short fiction, and one of the few writers equally acclaimed in both genres. More about Tess Gallagher

Raymond Carver

1988

One of the most influential American writers of short fiction since 1975. More about Raymond Carver