Each month, Tempest Studios (140 Kelly Alley in State College) hosts two local writers in its Hometown Voices Performance & Reading Series.
Check out the lineup for Spring 2024:
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Did you know that Joseph Heller began writing his famous satirical novel about war, Catch-22, while teaching English at Penn State in the 1950s? Did you know that the namesake for our campus’ Pattee Library, Fred Lewis Pattee, had his novel The House of the Black Ring rejected in various forms fourteen times before it was published in 1905?
For more about the history of these and other Penn State writers, stop by Burrowes Building’s fourth floor display case, which has a new design and new material, just in time to inspire Penn State students writers for the new semester. In addition to learning about Heller and Pattee, you’ll see information about and books by Theodore Roethke, Joseph L. Grucci, John Barth, Diane Ackerman, Agah Shahid Ali, and Robin Becker.
The project was created as collaboration between Director of Creative Writing Julia Spicher Kasdorf and Sophia Alexander, a design major with a creative writing minor. Sophia is in her last semester here at Penn State and she will use this project in her design portfolio as she searches for jobs this semester.Professor Kasdorf notes: “My hope in putting this together is that students will see themselves as part of this long and rich tradition of people writing works of literature in this place.”
Poet and Penn State Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, African Studies and Comparative Literature Gabeba Baderoon has shared the following call for poems about Gaza–
Several faculty members at Penn State have created a project to gather poems about Gaza in the words of Gazans. We ourselves are turning to poetry for comfort and a sense of justice and beauty in the face of devastating violence, and we plan to create a website with music and audio recordings of poems read by Palestinians. We think poetry and art are ways to fight the dehumanization, erasure and blatant justification of violence in many portrayals of Palestine, and to show the full and deep humanity of the people of that land.
Please share any poems (in written, audio or video form) by Palestinians via the link provided below by February 16.
There is also a growing genre of art (including poetry) being created in solidarity with Gaza. This is a secondary part of our project and if you encounter any examples of these, please also share them.
The Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia (WCoNA) is coming to Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA, Friday, March 15, through Saturday, March 16. The program features 25 workshops and presentations on topics including poetry, voice, developing a sense of place, screenwriting, marketing your book, publishing, Appalachian heritage and history, character development, and memoir.
The event, focused on building recognition for the region’s literature and helping its writers hone their craft, kicks off with an open mic on Friday evening. During the Friday evening opening, USA Today best-selling author David Poyer will offer a special presentation on writing in the age of AI.
Saturday’s conference sessions will begin with a keynote by Maxwell King. After a distinguished career as editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, King served as president of The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation. He has written a poetry collection, Crossing Laurel Run, followed by the New York Times-bestselling biography, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers. Most recently, Mr. King published American Workman: The Life and Art of John Kane, a book about a man whose experience in northern Appalachia typifies the misunderstood and overlooked voices of the region.
Presentations and workshops will be offered in four sessions throughout the day Saturday. Penn State faculty members Julia Spicher Kasdorf (Director of Creative Writing) and Alison Jaenicke (Assistant Director of Creative Writing) will co-lead a workshop called “Writing Y/our Roots in Northern Appalachia” on Saturday afternoon.
WCoNA invites participating authors to sign and sell books at the conference’s book sale. Attendees will have opportunities to network and establish new relationships based on the common appreciation for the literature of northern Appalachia.
According to WCoNA founder and president PJ Piccirillo, a novelist from Elk County, the contributions of writers interpreting life in northern Appalachia have been underrecognized, though the region’s people, places, cultures, and landscapes are as rich as those that have given rise to renowned literary traditions. “We believe the stories, poems, and essays inspired by our experiences deserve to be represented and valued as a body of work,” Piccirillo said. “To increase access to this outstanding literature, we’re building a brand for our writers among booksellers, agents, publishers and, most importantly, readers.”
Registration is open with early-bird pricing through February 15 at www.wcona.com. Sponsorships are also available.
Penn State’s Center for American Literary Studies (CALS) has launched its 2024 writing contest.
“Lost and Found” Writing Contest
All entries are due by Monday, March 11.
This contest is part of the 2024 Centre County Reads/CALS Community Read of Brendan Slocumb’s The Violin Conspiracy, a novel centered on the history of a Stradivarius passed down through the generations of a Black Southern family.
You can find the contest poster below and more details on the CALS website: https://cals.la.psu.edu/programs-series/centre-county-reads/
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For more information and a link to the application,
see BA/MA Graduate Program in Creative Writing
For questions, contact Director of Creative Writing,
Julia Spicher Kasdorf (jmk28@psu.edu).
For past blog posts about the program, see:
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