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Southeastern Louisiana University
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Date: 2/3/98
Contact: Christina Chapple 5
Editors: Photos accompany release
SLU TO HOST LITERARY FESTIVAL FEB. 16-19
HAMMOND -- Louisiana's literary best will be in the spotlight Feb. 16-19 when
Southeastern Louisiana University hosts the Southeastern Literary Festival.
The week-long festival will feature lectures and readings by writers such as
Southeastern's own acclaimed short story author Tim Gautreaux, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
Robert Olen Butler, historian Douglas Brinkley, poet Darrell Bourque and novelist Elizabeth
Dewberry. It also will include sessions by Times-Picayune columnists Lolis Eric Elie and Sheila
Stroup and Southeastern English professors James Walter and Mary Sue Ply. Southeastern's
Richard Louth will lead a tour of a photographic exhibit on William Faulkner and Dillard
University actors will dramatize the works of African American writers of the "Harlem
Renaissance."
"The festival is designed to spotlight some of the finest writers in the south, including
many of our own professors," said Don Marshall, director Southeastern's Cultural Resource
Management program, which organized the festival. An undergraduate degree program, Cultural
Resource Management instructs students in arts administration, historic preservation and
archeology.
"Programs such as the Literary Festival are being created at Southeastern to give students
hands-on experiences in organizing major cultural events," Marshall said. Most of the festival's
events are funded by Southeastern's Arts and Lectures Committee.
The Festival schedule includes
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2 p.m., Feb. 16, Music Recital Hall: Times-Picayune columnist Lolis Eric Elie, who
has distinguished himself as a writer unafraid to tackle New Orleans' tough and complex issues,
will speak on "Creative Writing in Journalism." Elie's recent book, "Smokestack Lightning:
Adventures in the Heart of Barbeque Country," explores the unique influences this tradition has
on life in America.
3 p.m., Feb. 16, Music Recital Hall: Douglas Brinkley, director of the Eisenhower
Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, will discuss his most recent
publication, "Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938," co-authored with noted
historian Stephen Ambrose. Brinkley also will discuss his best-selling book "The Majic Bus: An
American Odyssey," which details his innovative cross-country college history courses and has
won him accolades from around the world. Brinkley is in the process of collaborating on the
most comprehensive American History CD Rom ever compiled and writing "American
Heritage's New History of the United States."
2 p.m., Feb. 17, Music Recital Hall: Southeastern English professor Jim Walter,
director of Southeastern's Honor's Program, will discuss sexual love and artificial intelligence in
Walker Percy's final novel, "The Thanatos Syndrome." Walter has written extensively on
romance in the American novel and Shakespeare and his manuscript, "Enduring Romance: A
Poetics of Marriage," is being considered for publication.
3 p.m., Feb. 17, Music Recital Hall: Darrell Bourque, professor of English and
coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program at the University of Southwestern
Louisiana, will read from "The Door Between Us," the inaugural issue of a new poetry chapbook
series from "Louisiana Literature," Southeastern's award-winning literary journal. Bourque also
will read his poems at 7:30 p.m. at the Hammond Regional Arts Center (formerly the
Hammond Cultural Foundation), 217 E. Thomas St., in Hammond.
Noon, Feb. 18, Sims Memorial Library: Southeastern English professor Mary Sue
Ply will discuss the main themes in Robert Olen Butler's fiction, focusing on his short story
"Salem."
2 p.m., Feb. 18, Music Recital Hall: Elizabeth Dewberry, author of two critically-
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acclaimed novels, "Many Things Have Happened Since He Died" and "Break the Heart of Me,"
will read from her new novel, "Head On."
3 p.m., Feb. 18, Music Recital Hall: Robert Olen Bulter will read from "The Deep
Green Sea," his eighth novel. Winner of both the 1993 Pulitzer Prize and the prestigious Richard
and Hinda Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Butler teaches creative
writing in McNeese State University's Master of Fine Arts degree program.
4:30-5:30 p.m., Feb. 18, Bayou Booksellers, 204 E. Thomas St., Hammond: The
downtown Hammond bookstore will host a book signing for Robert Olen Butler.
2 p.m., Feb. 19, Sims Memorial Library: Southeastern English professor Richard
Louth will give his views on Faulkner, the man and his work, as he leads a tour of the traveling
exhibition, "Faulkner's World: The Photographs of Martin J. Dain."
3 p.m., Feb. 19, Music Recital Hall: Actors from Dillard University in New Orleans
will bring to life the works of "Harlem Renaissance" writers such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neal
Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, and Rudolph Fisher.
5 p.m., Feb. 19, D Vickers Hall, Room 383: The SLU Creative Writers Group will
host a creative writing workshop by Times-Picayune columnist -- and former Southeastern
English faculty member -- Sheila Stroup.
7:30 p.m., Feb. 19, Pottle Music Building Auditorium: Southeastern English
professor and Writer-in-Residence Tim Gautreaux, who has been universally acclaimed for his
short stories, will read from his novel, "The Next Step in the Dance," which will be released this
spring. Gautreaux's short story collection "Same Place, Same Things" catapulted him into the
national spotlight and his work has appeared in magazines such as "Harpers," "The Atlantic
Monthly," and "GQ." Winner of the 1995 National Magazine Award for fiction, Gautreaux
recently returned to Southeastern after serving as the John and Renee Grisham Southern Writer-
in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.
For additional information about the Southeastern Literary Festival, call the Cultural
Resource Management Program at 504-549-2193.
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