FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (4/97)
Contact: Kathleen Smith, Director of Continuing Education, 318-869-5115, or
Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120 or 869-5709
SHREVEPORT, LA -- A "Poet's Weekend" Conference is scheduled by the Centenary College Office of Continuing Education for May 16-17 on the campus.
The event will feature lectures by three prominent literary scholars: Dr. Sherod Santos, director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Missouri at Columbia; Dr. Lynne McMahon, professor of English at the University of Missouri at Columbia; and Lequita Vance-Watkins, director of the San Jose Center for Poetry and Literature in San Jose, Calif.
On May 16, the three will present lectures on poetry and the poetic process. Dr. Santos will discuss "Poetry and Attention." Dr. McMahon will discuss "Wordsworth and the Madwoman." Ms. Vance-Watkins will discuss the Japanese poets "Issa, Basho and Buson."
The lectures are open to conference participants and to high school English and creative writing teachers and their students.
The lecturers will also read from their works at 6:30 p.m. May 16 in Kilpatrick Auditorium, with a reception following. This event is free to those who attend the conference and $15 for the general public.
On May 17, each of the presenters will conduct an intensive poetry workshop in which participants' works are discussed. In-class writing will also be required. Registrants for the conference who wish to participate in the workshops should send no more than three poems with their registration fees.
Fees for the poetry weekend/conference is $85 for both days for the general public and $40 for senior adults over 55 or college students with identification. Housing and meals are extra. A one-day pass may also be purchased.
The program is sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information on fees and activities, or for a copy of the program brochure, call 318-869-5115.
-30-