spotlight
on the craft:: Rollins College annual writing conference::
a
festival of literary arts
:: By Kate Sullivan
In February, you'll think, I should've gotten on the plane
and spent four weeks in Florida's sleepy town of Winter Park.
Then your mind wanders while looking at your winter parka.
I'd have a Coco Chanel tan, returning full of Southern gloat
and good stories about how Florida looks better than Minnesota.
No offense intended for our friends on Lake Minnetonka, but
blizzards take vacations in Florida.
Grab
your shorts, we're going to the annual writing and reading fest
at Winter Park's college of distinction, Rollins College. This
is where writers gather for
The Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Scholars and
Artists series. It's the Winter with the Writers program
that presents notable artists, authors, actors, and poets. 
Best-selling
author and a former Rollins College professor Connie May Fowler,
whose quirky and enchanting 2005 novel The
Problem with Murmur Lee
received great reviews, is the director of this annual
event.
Winter
With the Writers, A Festival of the Literary Arts, will be held
every Thursday in February 2005 in the Bush Auditorium at Rollins
College. Master classes are held at 4 p.m. and author readings
and discussions are scheduled at 8 p.m. These events are free
and open to the public.
The
Winter with the Writers program past speakers have included
Novelist and Short-Story Writer Edward P. Jones, Novelist and
Memoirist Michael Ondaatje, John Berendt, author of Midnight
in the Garden of Good and Evil; David Halberstam, author
of The Children, The Best and Brightest; Olympia Dukakis,
actress and director; Thomas Kenneally, author of Schindler’s
List; James Earl Jones, actor and author; Sir Martin Gilbert,
Sir Winston Churchill’s official biographer; Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, poet; and, Jacob Lawrence, artist.
Located
fewer than 50 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and 70 miles from
the Gulf of Mexico Winter Park, Florida is also home to interesting
museums, nearby golf resorts, and the ever-expanding World of
Disney. Each year the Festival of the Literary Arts presents
unique experiences each Thursday evening during the month of
February. Rollins
College is at 1000 Holt Avenue, Winter Park.
For
more information, call the event director (407) 691-1159 or
the English department (407) 646-2666 or visit the site for
the event at www.rollins.edu/winterwiththewriters, but note
that the web site requires specific technology (ActiveX and
Java) and may not appear on legacy systems that do not employ
newer technology.
At
WordSmitten, we are dedicated
to bringing you great information that you'll be able to use
to enhance your writing career. You'll
read about authors Frank McCourt, Alice McDermott, Connie May
Fowler, ZZ Packer, and Jeff Pearlman. You'll discover great
literary agents like Gail Hochman, Eric Simonoff, Jeff Kleinman,
William Clark, and more.
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