~ Mesa Public Library is offering aspiring writers the opportunity to get help from a published author as part of its Writer in Residence Program. Local author Mark Athitakis will be using Mesa Public Library as his public workspace and will be hosting two free writing workshops each month for the public.

Athitakis is an experienced public speaker and writer who has contributed book reviews, essays and interviews to the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Kirkus Reviews and numerous other publications. In 2017 he published the book "The New Midwest: A Guide to Contemporary Fiction of the Great Lakes, Great Plains and Rust Belt" (Belt Publishing), which received the Books by the Banks author award for Best Adult Nonfiction Title. He has also taught news writing at ASU's Cronkite School (spring 2014) and participated in panels and workshops run by the ASU's Piper Center for Creative Writing, the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), the American Nonprofit Academy and the Thinking Writer. For nine years, he served as a board member of the NBCC, chairing its fiction award committee twice and its autobiography committee once.

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Athitakis will be holding 30-minute one-on-one consultations from May through July at Red Mountain Library to help aspiring authors fine-tune their work. He will also be hosting two free writing workshops each month for the public: Reading Like a Critic on Saturday, May 13th; and You've Written Your Book, Now What? on Saturday June 10th.

The Reading Like a Critic workshop will discuss how critics read for theme, style and character and how you can apply those approaches to your own reading. The You've Written Your Book workshop will explore the process of finding the best place for your writing, identifying and querying agents and more.

In 2021 Athitakis served as writer in residence at Apache Junction Public Library. He currently serves on the panel of reviewers for Southwest Books of the Year administered by Pima County Public Library.

The Mesa Library Writer in Residence program is from May through July with office hours at Red Mountain Library on Tuesdays & Fridays from 12 p.m.- 2 p.m.. For more information on programs at Mesa Public Library call 480-644-3100 or visit mesalibrary.org/writerinresidence . The Writer in Residence program is supported by Arizona State Library with federal funds from Institute of Museum & Library Services

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