River Selby, the Don MacNaughton Reader | Raymond Carver Reading Series

River Selby was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. They are a first generation high-school and college graduate. They worked as a wildland firefighter for seven years, stationed out of California, Oregon, Colorado, and Alaska.

They are currently a Kingsbury and Legacy Fellow at Florida State University, where they are pursuing their Ph.D. in Nonfiction with an emphasis in postcolonial histories, North American colonization, and postmodern literature and culture. River has spent nearly a decade researching the history of fire suppression in the United States, Indigenous fire and land-tending practices, climate change impacts, and ecological adaptations across North American landscapes. Their research is informed by their extensive field experience.

They hold an MFA in fiction from Syracuse University, and a BA in English and Textual Studies from the same institution, where they served as a Remembrance Scholar before graduating summa cum laude, with honors. River also received a Critical Language Scholarship for Hindi and served as a Fulbright ETA in the Czech Republic.

Hotshot: A Life on Fire is their first book. Subscribe to their newsletter, GATHERING.

The Raymond Carver Reading Series features twelve to fourteen prominent writers yearly as part of a large undergraduate class taught by TAs from the Creative Writing Program. All readings take place in Watson Theater in Watson Hall. They begin at 5:00 p.m. and are preceded by a question-and-answer session that begins at 4:00 p.m. They are open to the public.

Past readings have been recorded and are in the process of being made available online by Bird Library at SUrface.