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Writing Our Way Home: A Veterans’ Writing Weekend at the National Veterans Resource Center

vet writing trio

Time: Nov. 7, 2025, 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Location: National Veterans Resource Center

Part of the Syracuse Symposium

Part of the Syracuse Symposium series.

This public Veteran's Day Weekend gathering includes a presentation of the Veterans’ Writing Award sponsored by Syracuse University Press and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families as well as a preview of public readings and activities scheduled at the NVRC throughout the weekend.

The creative arts, especially writing, can give military veterans the opportunity to reflect on military experiences, gain insight and solace, process complex emotions, and build public voices and community with other servicemembers and veterans while sharing stories with varied audiences.

Weekend Schedule:

Friday, Nov. 7, 5:00-6:30 p.m. - Awards Presentation / Reception

Saturday, Nov. 8, 7:00-8:00 p.m. - Public readings by award-winning veteran authors Dewaine Ferria, Brian O'Hare, and Jenny Pacanowski

Sunday, Nov. 9, 2:30-3:30 p.m. - Public readings by Veterans workshop participants

About the Guest Presenters:

Dewaine Farria served in Jordan and Ukraine as a Marine. In addition to his stint in the military, Farria served in the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS). He was awarded UNDSS’s Bravery Award for his actions during an attack on a UN compound in Mogadishu in June 2013. He presently supervises field security for the Asian Development Bank from the organization’s headquarters in Manila. He holds an MA in international relations from the University of Oklahoma and an MFA in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Farria’s writing has appeared in Literary Hub, The New York Times, The Rumpus, Southern Humanities Review, CRAFT, The Daily Beast, Consequence, and War on the Rocks. He has received fellowships from the National Security Education Program, MacDowell, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Tobias Wolff selected his novel Revolutions of All Colors as the winner of the inaugural Veterans Writing Prize.

Brian O’Hare is a graduate of the US Naval Academy, former Marine officer and Gulf War veteran. His career began in a Baltimore bar, where legendary director John Waters cast him as a convict for his film Cry Baby. Currently, he’s an award-winning writer and filmmaker living in Los Angeles. Most recently, National Book Award winner (and Marine) Phil Klay awarded Brian Syracuse University Press' 2021 Veterans Writing Award for Surrender—his book of short stories published in November 2022 by Syracuse University Press. Along with literary/veteran icons Tobias Wolff, Tim O’Brien and Richard Bausch, Surrender was read as part of WORDTheater LA's event commemorating the 50th anniversary of end of the Vietnam war. His film Rizoo, about an 8-year-old girl deciding whether to wear the hijab for a class picture, was released in January by The New Yorker. His feature documentary Cannon Shot about the world's largest croquet match between the US Naval Academy and across the street neighbors St. John's College, will premiere in 2025. He's at work on his debut novel, A Gathering of Vultures.

Jenny Pacanowski is a poet, playwright, military combat veteran, and public speaker. While deployed to Iraq with the Army, Jenny was a medic and provided medical support for convoys with the Marines, Air Force and the Army and also did shifts in the Navy medical hospital. Jenny is the Founder and Artistic Director of Women Veterans Empowered and Thriving (WVE&T) which has expanded its programming to include men, civilian support members and LGBTIA+. WVE&T’s mission is to bring the sacredness and normalcy of ritual storytelling back into our modern society with the intention of reintegrating military veterans and uplifting American society to represent a country that truly honors and celebrates the people who serve and shows that by guiding them home. Jenny has written for The War Horse, Spring St, Aquila Theater, The Journal of Military Behavioral Health, multiple poetry anthologies and publications. She wrote the original drama “Dionysus in America,” which premiered in October 2019 at Canopy Theater and The Vortex. The play adapts Greek tragedy from a woman combat veteran’s perspective and explores themes of war, reintegration, and American society. In June 2025, Jenny earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Performance Creation.