Aspiring writers can get help from a published author to improve their skills at Mesa Public Library.

Local author Mark Athitakis is using Mesa Public Library as his public workspace as part of the Writer in Residence Program. He will have office hours at Red Mountain Library to meet one-on-one with aspiring writers regarding their work and host a free writing workshop each month for the public.

Among the events he is hosting:

• Writer in Residence consultation hours: Tuesdays and Fridays, 12 p.m.- 2 p.m. Red Mountain Library, 635 N. Power Road. He will hold 30-minute one-on-one consultations from May through July to help aspiring authors fine-tune their work. Appointments required.
• You’ve Written Your Book, Now What?: 11 a.m.-noon Saturday, June 10, Red Mountain Library, 635 N. Power Road. If you’re in the home stretch of your manuscript, you have a lot of decisions to make. This session will explore the process of finding the best place for your writing, identifying and querying agents and more.

Athitakis regularly contributes 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. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Phoenix Magazine and Humanities.

The Mesa Library Writer in Residence program is from May through July. For more information on programs at Mesa Public Library, call 480-644-3100 or go to mesalibrary.org/writerinresidence.

The Writer in Residence program is supported by the Arizona State Library, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.