Sherry Chandler » Events and Conferences
If you ask a, shall we say pleasantly rounded, woman aged in the low-sixties to eat a heavy meal, then climb about a furlong or so of hill at a 45° angle with the temperature and the humidity both in the low nineties, well, it’s not a pretty picture.
Lincoln Memorial University is a picture pretty campus nestled in the valley just east of Cumberland Gap in Harrogate, Tennessee, and the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival 2008, as I experienced it, was 36 hours of intensive intellectual stimulation and unprecedented exercise. Factor in the campus-wide air conditioning problems, and you will understand why I’m just wanting to sit quiet this morning and practice my calming breath.
More on this later, but for right now, let me say that Maurice Manning is not only an world-class poet but he is also a great teacher, a rare and valuable combination. If you have a chance to experience a workshop led by Maurice, grab it.
This post was written by sherry
I’m off to attend the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival at Lincoln Memorial University:
We believe that LMU is at the epicenter of the Appalachian literary movement. Situated at the historic Cumberland Gap, we have our feet firmly planted in the fertile soil of the past and the other in the promise of the future (sic). Our festival not only celebrates the rich history of Appalachian literature, but also offers a guiding light for a new generation of writers who have been inspired by the writers who come from LMU and other writers of the Appalachian South. The Mountain Heritage Literary Festival celebrates our living history while also providing master classes, workshops, lectures and readings to entertain and inform writers of today’s generation.
Besides the literary tradition that is still thriving at LMU, we also offer an amazingly beautiful space for writers to find inspiration. This is a festival that is completely down-home, accessible and fun– traits that Appalachians have rightly been known for. Instead of fancy meals, at the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival you’ll be fed the food your grandmother might have prepared for you. You’ll breathe in the crisp air of the Cumberland Mountains and be treated to traditional music strummed on an autoharp. There will be plenty of music to be heard, plays to be seen and good fellowship to be had.
Back Sunday morning.
This post was written by sherry
The quality of mercy is not strain’d;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this-
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.
— Portia’s speech from Act IV, Scene I of The Merchant of Venice, text from Project Gutenberg.
It is Poem in your Pocket Day and I thank Margo Berdeshevsky for reminding me of this passage in her Poet’s Pick last week.
Garrison Keillor threw a sonnet contest. Results, winner and 32 finalists, here. Or you can listen to a streaming broadcast of the show Sonnet in your Bonnet? in which members of the cast read the poems.
And also, in my list of local events this week, I, rather stupidly, forgot to mention that Lynnell Edwards will be reading from her new book The Highwayman’s Wife tonight at 6:30 at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington. The reading is free. The workshop afterwards is $25. Tonight’s event is, I think, the last of the CCLL’s New Books by Great Writers Series for this season.
Which reminds me, in turn, of Alfred Noyes’s poem “The Highwayman”. I submit this link to you as your bonus poem.
This post was written by sherry
This Thursday, April 17, is the birthday of my sister-in-law of, can it be?, about 50 years. Happy birthday, Pete!
But it is also the Academy of American Poets’ Poem in your Pocket Day!
Celebrate the first national Poem In Your Pocket Day!
The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends on April 17.
Poems from pockets will be unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores.
The site has suggestions for celebrating the day and also a selection of pocket-sized poems you can print out and share.
Or, if you’re more technology minded, you can carry Mobile Poets on your pocket communicator of choice.
April 17 is also the date for Hazard Community and Technical College’s Evening with Poets, hosted by Jim Webb. This year’s featured poet is Diane Gilliam Fisher. Readings begin at 6:30 in the Stephens Library. Admission is free!
The 12th annual HCTC Spring Writers Conference is set for April 18, 10:00 to 4:30. This FREE writers conference will feature workshops by Crystal Wilkinson, Gurney Normal, and Diane Gilliam Fisher.
At the other end of the state, Kentucky Writers Conference 2008 returns to Bowling Green for it’s fifth year on April 17 and 18. Presenters include George Ella Lyon, Richard Taylor, Lynnell Edwards, and John Guzlowski (about whom more later).
The 10th annual Southern Kentucky Bookfest will be held on Saturday April 19 at the Sloan Convention in Bowling Green. My friend Georgia Green Stamper, author of You Can Go Anywhere, will be there along with other local notables, including Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Gentry, former Kentucy Poet Laureate Richard Taylor, along with Leatha Kendrick, Fred Smock, George Ella Lyon, Lynnell Edwards, and some folks who write stuff beside poetry. Full list of authors here.
You can find links to web pages for these and many other Kentucky writers on my Ky’s Writers page.
In case you didn’t get signed up, here are the archives for Knopf’s Poem-a-Day 2008
And don’t forget Dead Mule’s Poets on the Odds.
This post was written by sherry
Well, your Senate just made the Bush unitary presidency stronger by passing a FISA bill that gives the executive branch the right to decide who they should spy on, without judicial review, and gives the telecommunications industry retroactive immunity from legal action for giving up your information.
You might call your Congress person and suggest that s/he support the RESTORE act. Otherwise, unfettered spying for six years.
Meanwhile Antonin Scalia continues his charm offensive, saying torture is just all right with him and you can’t call it “cruel and unusual” unless it’s punishment for a crime. Waterboarding equals a smack in the face? Guess we have a hint how the Supremes might decide on the question of admitting evidence obtained by torture.
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, when everything is pink and rosey. Except in the coal-bearing Appalachians. Still time to consider joining the I Love Mountains Day Rally. Wendell Berry will be there. And it looks like the weather is gonna cooperate. Forecast calls for 45 and sunny.
Friday, February 15, is the postmark deadline for entries to The Heartland Review’s Joy Bale Boone poetry prize. Kathleen Driskell judges.
AND February 29th, Leap Day, is deadline for the Green River Writers suite of contests. (Link is to PDF file.)
This post was written by sherry
Make your plans now for the Writer’s Collective 2008 Workshop ,Friday & Saturday, April 11 & 12, 2008, at the Old Town Professional Center, 204 N Broadway, Berea, KY 40403.
Presenters will include Normandi Ellis, Gin Petty, Jim Tomlinson, and Leatha Kendrick to name just those whose work I know. Excellent craftsfolk all. Gin Petty’s workshop alone — on Handbinding Chapbooks and Journals — would be worth the price of admission (which is a measly $65 for the whole weekend). If you haven’t seen this woman’s work, you are missing a treat.
They’ve got a dandy website up. Go take a look around.
This post was written by sherry
Poet Diane Lockward reports from the AWP meeting in New York City where she has been minding the shared table for Wind Publications and Steel Toe Books, both Kentucky enterprises
I have now attended my first AWP Conference. My spouse drove me in Wednesday afternoon and deposited me at the Hilton Hotel where I would spend an absurd amount of money for a rather small room, nice but smallish. That night I had a BLT for dinner—$17.50! Then I discovered that the hotel charges $15 per day for use of their wireless. That was another first. That’s usually an amenity that comes with the room rate. But I had my new laptop with me and was determined to put it to use.
The next day I reported for duty at the book table my publisher, Wind Publications, was sharing with Steel Toe Books. Tom Hunley, the Steel Toe publisher as well as a Wind poet, had the table already set up. Our location was a nice corner spot, but on the second floor of the Bookfair. As that area required one to go up an escalator and there was no sign indicating the second level, there was much less traffic in that area. I sold a decent number of books, but I heard a lot of grousing about diminished sales this year in spite of the dramatic increase in the number of registrants. My guess is that with the exorbitant hotel costs people were less inclined to shell out for books.
Diane also attended the launch of the Wom-Po anthology Letters to the World, published by Red Hen Press:
My favorite event was the Wompo panel Friday morning. This was a celebration of the just-released Wompo anthology, Letters to the World, which contains over 200 poems by members of the Wompo listserv. It was an amazing and time-consuming and international endeavor. The result is a gorgeous anthology.
Several local poets have poems in this anthology, including me, Joanie DiMartino, Ann Lederer, and Margaret Ricketts. More about it later.
Addendum: Meredith Sue Willis also has an AWP experience to report:
I suppose, especially in New York, so many people go! 7,000 participants, and they had to close registration– at once a wonderful feeling, all those people who care about books and writing– that what we do is serious, and at the same time the horror, the horror: they all want to be writers? And who will be reading what they write? Young people from the programs, fragrant with ambition, old people with twisted mouths, self-involved, not having achieved all they wanted, ready to talk about themselves, not others. Double and tripling of exhilaration and dismay.
This post was written by sherry
My husband, T. R. Williams, will be exhibiting this Saturday and Sunday at the Keeneland Arts Fair in Lexington. Held on the picturesque grounds of the Keeneland Race Course, this juried art fair will feature over 90 of the region’s best artists and craftspeople. Shoppers can expect to see the highest quality handcrafted ceramics, painting, metal works, glass works, fiber works, photography, fine jewelry, woodcraft and more. Concessions also will be sold onsite for those who need a break from their holiday shopping.
Williams is still the third most common name in the United States but my husband is an artisan of uncommon skill. He has been a juried exhibitor with the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen since 1981. He was in the first class of exhibitors to be juried into the Kentucky Craft Marketing program when it started back in the 80s. Parenting duties made it impossible for him to produce wholesale quantities of goods, so he had to drop out but he juried in again last year. This year he was chosen to be a showcased artist at Southern Artistry. His work is known throughout the country and in 1993, he contributed a tiny wood spoon to the White House Christmas tree. That was in those awful prosperous Clinton years, theme was “The Year of the American Craft” and the tree featured hand-crafted ornaments from all states, territories, and possessions (who says we’re not an empire?).
We were sent a souvenir photo, which I share here in the spirit of the season.
T. R. makes gorgeous turned ornaments now, of which I regret to say there is only one sample on his web page at the moment. This web is a work in very slow progress. You can also see a few here on our considerably less over-decorated avacado plant that stands us in stead of a pine. You can see also a representative sampling of his distinctive spoons here.
The other artisans at the Keeneland Fair will be just as skilled. If you want to find some beautiful distinctive gifts and are tired of the hurly-burly of the malls, why not give Keeneland a shot.
Hours are 10:00 AM - 6:00 5:00 PM Saturday and Sunday 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
This post was written by sherry
Busy weekend for the family.
The Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen Fall Fair takes place this weekend, October 13 & 14, at Memorial Park on Jefferson Street in Berea, Kentucky. Saturday hours are 10 - 6, Sunday 10 - 5. Admission $5.00, Seniors $4.00, under 12 free.
My husband T.R. Williams will be there, as he has been every fall since 1981.
I, on the other hand, will be attending the Kentucky State Poetry Society’s 41st Annual Awards Weekend at the Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park. This year’s presenter is Mary E. (Ernie) O’Dell, President and co-founder of the Green River Writers, and author of Living in the Body and Poems for the Man Who Weighs Light. Reservations are closed for the banquet and awards presentation but you can still attend the afternoon workshop, “The Path of the Poet,” for the amazingly low cost of $15.
This post was written by sherry
Just a reminder, tomorrow is postmark deadline for the Kentucky State Poetry Society contest 2007. Guidelines here.
Registration is now open for the 28th Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Mark your calendars for September 28th & 29th. Guidelines for the Betty Gabehart Prizes can be found here. Postmark deadline is August 15, fee for poetry is $5/per poem.
The Conference has a new director, Julie Kuzneski Wrinn, whose statement you will find here:
I became director of the conference in January 2007 after serving for three years on its volunteer board. My background is in book publishing. During a decade in that business in Washington, D.C., I had the privilege of editing some of Kentucky’s most beloved authors—Wendell Berry, Ed McClanahan, and the late Guy Davenport. Arriving in Lexington in 2002 already knowing these eminent Kentuckians was a happy coincidence for me. And after these five years of residing in the Bluegrass, I better understand the rich sense of place that inspires its many artists.
I’ve been a little distracted from the blog the last day or two. It’s almost a comfort to discover that, after all, I have a life.
Stick with me. I’ll be back in full fettle in a day or two.
This post was written by sherry
