39th Annual Writers' Festival
March 25-26, 2010
A Creative Tradition
Agnes Scott College is known for fostering the creative spirit through the written word and the Writers’ Festival has brought renowned novelists, poets, playwrights and essayists to the campus including:
Julia Alvarez
Margaret Atwood
Eavan Boland
Peter Carey
James Dickey
Chitra Divakaruni
Rita Dove
Carolyn Forché
Jamaica Kincaid
Li-Young Lee
Gloria Naylor
Anita Desai
Quiara Alegria Hudes |
Marsha Norman ’69X, H’05
Joyce Carol Oates
Tim O’Brien
Tillie Olsen
Bapsi Sidhwa
Jane Smiley
John Updike
Robert Penn Warren
Richard Wilbur
Joy Williams
Junot Diaz
Memye Curtis Tucker
and many others |
2010 Featured Writers
Scott Russell Sanders Reading
Thursday, March 25, 8 p.m.
Winter Theatre, Dana Fine Arts Building
Reception and book signing to follow
Scott Russell Sanders studied physics and English at Brown University and, as a Marshall Scholar, completed a Ph.D. in English at the University of Cambridge. In 1971 he joined the faculty of Indiana University, where he taught until 2009, retiring as Distinguished Professor of English.
Among his more than twenty books are novels, collections of stories, works of personal nonfiction, and storybooks for children. His writing examines the human place in nature, the pursuit of social justice, the relation between culture and geography, and the search for a spiritual path. His recent book, A Private History of Awe, is a coming-of-age memoir, love story, and spiritual testament, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. A Conservationist Manifesto, his vision of a shift to a sustainable society, was published in 2009.
Paul Guest Reading
Thursday, March 25, 4 p.m.
Julia Thompson Smith Chapel
Reception and book signing to follow
Paul Guest is the author of three volumes of poetry and a forthcoming memoir. His debut, The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World, was awarded the 2002 New Issues Poetry Prize. His second collection, Notes for My Body Double, was awarded the 2006 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry. His third collection, My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge, was published by the Ecco Press in 2008. His poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Poetry, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. His memoir, One More Theory About Happiness, will be published by Ecco in May 2010. The recipient of a 2007 Whiting Writers' Award, Guest lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sarah Scoles '07 Reading
Friday, March 26, 10 a.m.
Winter Theatre, Dana Fine Arts Building
Reception and book signing to follow
Sarah Scoles '07 recently graduated from Cornell University's MFA program, where she completed a collection of short stories featuring female narrators who are intelligent, neurotic, and scientific, and who feel some kind of disconnect between their brains and the world around them. She currently teaches Writing at Cornell University and later plans to observe and chronicle the lives of astronomers at remote radio telescopes. Her work has appeared in *DIAGRAM*, *SNReview*, *Sotto Voce* and “Fringe.”
Q&A Session with Featured Authors
Thursday, March 25, 2-3 p.m.
Amelia Davis Luchsinger Fireplace Lounge, Alston Campus Center
There will be a Q&A session with our guest authors on Thursday, March 25 from 2-3 p.m. in the Luchsinger Lounge, Alston Campus Center.
Creative Writing Competition: Finalists' Readings
Wednesday, March 24, 10 a.m.
Amelia Davis Luchsinger Fireplace Lounge, Alston Campus Center
Each year student writers from Georgia colleges and universities submit their fiction, poetry, personal essays and one-act plays to the Writers’ Festival Creative Writing Competition. The readings of the finalists from Agnes Scott will be held Wednesday, March 24, at 10 a.m., in the Luchsinger Lounge, Alston Campus Center. Sponsored by the Center for Speaking and Writing and the English Department.
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Fiction:
Justine Schwartz, "The Dog Catcher"
Michelle Haddad, "Mercy"
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Nonfiction:
Joanna Carver, "The Passerby"
Kayla Miller, "Notes Upon the Topography of Scar Tissue"
Rachel Burger, "Chicken Shit and Candy"
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Poetry:
Kristen Fox, "Used Vehicle for Sale," "I’m Sorry She Only Lived One Saturday Afternoon"
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One-Act Play:
Alfreda Henry, "Possum"
For More Information
Contact Peggy Thompson at pthompson@agnesscott.edu.