February 5, 2007
SELINSGROVE, ( Pa. ) – On Monday, Feb. 19, lovers of the literary arts will converge on Susquehanna University for the Third Annual Undergraduate Literature and Creative Writing Conference. Sponsored by Susquehanna's Department of English and Creative Writing, the conference will attract participants from 28 institutions in 14 states, including as far away as California, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kentucky and Florida.
The event's keynote speaker will be Michael Bérubé, the Paterno Family Professor in Literature at Pennsylvania State University. His address will begin at 1 p.m. in Meeting Rooms 3-5 of Degenstein Campus Center, and is free and open to the public.
Bérubé is the author of Life As We Know It, which The New York Times named a Notable Book of the Year for 1996. The book was also chosen as one of the best books of the year by Maureen Corrigan of National Public Radio. Bérubé is a prolific writer with more than a half dozen books and 100 essays to his credit. His most recent books include What's Liberal About the Liberal Arts? and Classroom Politics and “Bias” in Higher Education . His essays have been published in such well-known periodicals as Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Nation and The Boston Globe.
During the all-day event, undergraduate scholars will present both literary research and creative works in a variety of genres. Readings from original poetry, fiction and nonfiction, as well as scholarly writings on authors, literary works and the history of literature, are among the types of presentations that will be delivered during the conference.
The conference will conclude with a reading by poet John Hoppenthaler at 7:30 p.m. in Isaacs Auditorium of Seibert Hall. Sponsored by The Writers' Institute as part of its 2006-2007 Visiting Writers Series, the reading is free and open to the public.
Hoppenthaler's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in such journals as Ploughshares , The Southern Review, Virginia Quarterly Review and Poet Lore. His creative work has also been included in the anthologies September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond, Wild, Sweet Notes II: More West Virginia Poetry and Blooming Through the Ashes. His reviews, interviews and essays regularly appear in such publications as Arts & Letters, Pleiades, Southeast Review and Kestre, where he serves as poetry editor.
He is a recipient of the Individual Artist Grant from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and numerous Pushcart Prize nominations. His first book of poetry, Lives Of Water, was published by Carnegie Mellon University Press in 2003. A second volume, Anticipate the Coming Reservoir, is forthcoming in 2008. He teaches at West Virginia University at Parkersburg.
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Contact: Victoria Kidd
570-372-4119
#vk/5064#
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