|
Writing series lineup announced |
|
|
|
Thursday, 07 February 2008 |
by LINDSAY TIGAR
Lifestyles Editor
Each talent is displayed through different mediums.
A painter’s masterpiece is shown after the work has been created.
Athletes and musicians practice and then perform in front of an audience to interpret.
For a writer, their work is published and then the reader decides how the words will influence their lives.
The Visiting Writers Series hopes to show students the importance
authors can have in their growth and experience at Appalachian State
University and in their lives.
“If you were a guitar player and you have five of the best guitar
players coming to town, you would want to hear them play,” co-director
of the Visiting Writers Series and English professor Joseph Bathanti
said. “These writers are models of a kind of creative life that many of
our students aspire to, and many people in the community as well.
Hearing work read makes it come alive and interacting with writers
demystifies the process.”
Each semester the series invites authors to read from their books and
discuss the issues or situations that inspired their publications.
In spring 2008, most writers will travel from the Southeast.
“We have a focus on Appalachian and North Carolina writers, but we also
try to choose authors eclectically from all of the U.S., and typically
we do,” Bathanti said. “None of the writers coming in this semester are
from North Carolina. That’s just happenstance.”
All discussions and events through the Visiting Writers Series are free to students and open to the public.
This semester, award winning journalist and author Frye Gaillard will begin the series Feb. 21.
Poet and critic Ricardo Pau-Llosa will follow Gaillard Feb. 28.
Jo Carson, a playwright, poet and fiction writer, will travel to Appalachian from Johnson City, Tenn. March 20.
Non-fiction writer Karen Salyer McElmurray will speak April 3 and poet Marilyn Kallet will finish the series April 10.
“We’re able to attract some of the most prominent writers and writing
teachers in the country,” Bathanti said. “The Visiting Writers Series
allows people to interact with these writers free of charge. It’s
entertaining, but it’s a significant educational opportunity also.”
Frye Gaillard
Feb. 21, 2-3:15 p.m. (Craft Talk) and 7:30 p.m. (Speaking)
“A Non-Fiction Purist (More or Less)” craft talk
• Writer-in-residence at the University of South Alabama
• Former Southern Editor at The Charlotte Observer
• Founding editor of Novello Festival Press
• Author of 19 books on Southern history, race relations, politics and culture.
• Published works “Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America,” “Race, Rock, and Religion: Profiles from a Southern Journalist,” “The Dream Long Deferred: A Community’s Quest for Desegregation.”
Ricardo Pau-Llosa
Feb. 28, 3:30-4:45 p.m. (Craft Talk) and 7:30 p.m. (Speaking)
“The Role of Metaphor and Other Tropes in Transforming Common Experience in Poems” craft talk
• Moved to the U.S. in 1960 from Havana, Cuba
• Lives in Miami and teaches in the Department of English at Miami-Dade Community College.
• Collected, curated, and written eight scholarly books on Latin American Art
• Published works: “Sorting Metaphors,” “Venticion Poemas,” “Bread of the Imagined Outside Cuba/Fuera de Cuba: Contemporary Cuban Visual Artists.”
March 20, 2-3:15 p.m. (Craft Talk) and 7:30 p.m. (Speaking)
“A Physics and Biophysics of Storytelling” craft talk
• Writer, producer, and performer living in Johnson City, Tenn.
• Spent the past 15 years helping over 30 communities across the country to
write plays from oral history.
• Has a degree in theater and speech from East Tennessee State University
• Plays include: “Whispering to Horses,” “Preacher with a Horse to Ride,” “Daytrips”
• Books include: “Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody Yet,” “The Last of the ‘The Waltz Across Texas’,” “Other Stories.”
Karen Salyer McElmurray
April 3, 7:30 p.m. (Speaking)
• Has been a landscaper, casino employee and sporting towel factory worker
• Currently an assistant professor of creative writing at Georgia College and State University.
• Is the Creative Nonfiction Editor for “Arts and Letters”.
• Publications include: “Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey,” “Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven.”
Marilyn Kallet
April 10, 3:30-4:45 p.m. (Craft Talk) and 7:30 p.m. (Speaking)
“Poetry as Bridge to Writing Children’s Books” craft talk
• Born in Montgomery, Ala. and grew up in New York
• Has a B.A. from Tufts University, M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature from Rutgers.
• Has published poetry in over 45 poetry reviews and anthologies.
• Poetry include: “Last Love Poems of Paul Eluard,” “In the Great Night,” “How to Get Heat Without Fire.”
*All events will be located at the Table Rock Room in the Plemmons Student Union*
Source: visitingwriters.appstate.edu
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments