ODU'S 30th ANNUAL LITERARY FESTIVAL: TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL VOICE
"Tradition and the Individual Voice" is the theme for Old Dominion University's 30th annual Literary Festival, which will bring 11 writers � and a blues trio � to the campus Oct. 1-4.
The ODU Literary Festival, funded in part by the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Virginia Commission for the Arts, is free and open to the public.
This year's visiting writers include a PEN/Faulkner Award winner, Sabina Murray, and finalist, William Henry Lewis; a Whiting Writers' Award winner, Sherwin Bitsui; and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, David Wojahn.
The 2007 Literary Festival authors "are among the writers who are creating the best in works written in contemporary times," said Janet Peery, festival director and University Professor of English and Creative Writing at ODU. "They are probably not household names, or among the authors you see in airport bookstores or drugstore racks; I purposefully avoided 'big names' in the belief that the words and the depth of ideas within their books are more important than star power. Anyone who comes to any of the events will find something of value to take away."
The festival also includes a performance by M.S.G., an acoustic blues trio that plays traditional Piedmont blues. "Some of their numbers are standards hundreds of years old, but to these samplings of work songs, gospel songs and traditional ballads, the trio adds their own interpretation and contemporary songwriting abilities in a mixture of old and new that speaks perfectly for what I hope the festival will reveal about tradition in story and song," Peery said.
The schedule is as follows:
MONDAY, OCT. 1
Michael Blumenthal � 2 p.m., Chandler Recital Hall
M.S.G. � 4 p.m., Stables Theatre
Author reception � 7 p.m., Diehn Composers Room
Rick Bass � 8 p.m., Chandler Recital Hall
TUESDAY, OCT. 2
Janine Latus � 1 p.m., River Rooms, Webb Center
Sabrina Murray � 4 p.m., Hampton/ Newport News Room, Webb Center
Author reception � 7 p.m., Diehn Composers Room
William Henry Lewis � 8 p.m., Chandler Recital Hall
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 3
Alan Shapiro � 2 p.m., River Rooms, Webb Center
Sherwin Bitsui � 4 p.m., Hampton/ Newport News Room, Webb Center
Author reception � 7 p.m., Diehn Composers Room
Jill McCorkle � 8 p.m., Chandler Recital Hall
THURSDAY, OCT. 4
David Wojahn � 2 p.m., River Rooms, Webb Center
Honor�e Fanonne Jeffers � 12:30 p.m., 244A Virginia Beach Center; 4 p.m., Hampton/Newport News Room, Webb Center
Author reception � 7 p.m., Diehn Composers Room
Ethan Canin � 8 p.m., Chandler Recital Hall.
For more information about the authors, go to www.lib.odu.edu/litfest/30th