Buffalo, NY – The Canisius University Contemporary Writers Series is excited to announce its fall 2025 lineup, featuring two distinguished authors who will share their work and discuss their craft with the campus community. Both events will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.
On October 2, Canisius will welcome Dame Louise Richardson, one of higher education's most distinguished leaders and scholars. Born and raised in County Waterford, Ireland, Richardson earned a degree in history from Trinity College Dublin, becoming the first in her family to attend university. She holds an MA in political science from UCLA and an MA and PhD in government from Harvard University.
For 20 years, Richardson was a professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University, where her teaching and scholarship focused on the roots of international terrorism. Her first book, What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat, was described by The New York Times as "the overdue and essential primer on terrorism and how to tackle it."
Richardson received teaching awards from the American Political Science Association and Phi Sigma Alpha, as well as the Levenson Prize awarded by Harvard undergraduates. In 2009, Richardson became the first woman to serve as principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and in 2016, the first woman to lead Oxford University as vice-chancellor. In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II appointed her a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) in recognition of her service to higher education.
The Contemporary Writers Series continues October 21 with author Ira Sukrungruang, who will discuss his works, life and career. Born in Chicago to Thai immigrants, Sukrungruang earned his BA in English from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and his MFA in creative writing from The Ohio State University.
Sukrungruang is the author of four books of nonfiction: Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddha Boy, Buddha's Dog & Other Meditations, Southside Buddhist and This Jade World. He is also the author of The Melting Season, a short story collection and In Thailand It Is Night, a volume of poetry.
Sukrungruang is the recipient of the 2015 American Book Award for Southside Buddhist, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature, an Arts and Letters Fellowship, and the Anita Claire Scharf Award in Poetry. He is the president of Sweet: A Literary Confection, a literary nonprofit organization, and serves as the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing at Kenyon College.
The Contemporary Writers Series is free and open to the public. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Each presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session and reception, providing attendees the opportunity to engage directly with the authors.
The Contemporary Writers Series brings nationally and internationally known writers to campus to share their work and discuss their art with Canisius students in an informal setting. Founded with a grant from the John R. Oishei Foundation and continued through the Peter Canisius Distinguished Teaching Professorship Program, the series is generously supported today by the Hassett, Scoma, and Lowery Endowments, and by gifts from loyal patrons. The series also collaborates with several local partners including The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Just Buffalo Literary Center, and Talking Leaves Books.
For more information about the Contemporary Writers Series, please visit www.canisius.edu/writers. To receive livestream links for the events, please contact Mick Cochrane, PhD, coordinator of the Contemporary Writers Series, at @email.
Canisius was founded in 1870 in Buffalo, NY, and is one of 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the Northeast, Canisius offers undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional programs distinguished by close student-faculty collaboration, mentoring and an emphasis on ethical, purpose-driven leadership.
