Innovative Mythmaking Author Brings Award-Winning Stories To Inspire and Entertain Minnesota State Mankato Community

Good Thunder Series Continues Thursday, March 25

by, GABBIE KEERAN, CSU Public Relations Intern


‘Bucak’s luminous debut taps folklore and real life to flesh out complex characters with an agile, inventive hand.’

O, The Oprah Magazine

Ayse Papatya Bucak

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Ayse Papatya Bucak, the 2019 winner of the Story Prize Spotlight Award honoring debut authors of notable merit, will share her collection of award-winning stories from “The Trojan War Museum at the March 25 installment of the Good Thunder Reading Series.

The 39th annual series continues with Bucak via Zoom on Thursday, March 25. Bucak will begin with a workshop from 10 to 11 a.m. followed by a “Talk on Craft” from 3 to 4 p.m. and finish with a reading from her work 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Register for the event here.

The workshop will be generative, Bucak will give a writing prompt to participants, writing will not be critiqued. “Talk on Craft” is for the writers to talk about elements or tools that a writer may use to create art and then answer specific questions on elements.

Minnesota State Mankato students are encouraged to attend the Good Thunder Reading Series to help build confidence in their own literary work. The series is a source of inspiration and offers a sense of community and belonging. Minnesota State Mankato faculty often are included among the series featured authors.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, and raised in Havertown, Pa., Bucak, is an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University. She earned the 2019 The Story Prize Spotlight Award that recognizes exceptional merit.

Awarded annually, The Story Prize honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction. In addition to top awards, The Story Prize Spotlight Award is an additional prize for the author of an outstanding story collection that merits further attention. Selected books can be promising works by first-time authors, collections in alternative formats, or works that demonstrate an unusual perspective on the writer’s craft.

Her Trojan War Muesum collection – which was also shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection – features ten inventive stories that through a variety of historical and contemporary settings deftly explores issues of identity, history, culture, myth, and mythmaking. 

Started in the 1980s and named The Good Thunder Reading Series brings in writers internationally, as well as top regional and national writers.

For more information visit Good Thunder Reading Series 2021 | Minnesota State University, Mankato.

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