Food and literature will mix -- literally and figuratively -- Saturday, Oct. 21, when The University of Tulsa presents its annual writing conference and workshop.
The conference, sponsored by Nimrod, TU's international journal of prose and poetry, will be led by numerous authors, including novelist and biographer John Edgar Wideman, poet Thomas Lux, and cookbook and children's author Crescent Dragonwagon.
Nimrod editor Fran Ringold says the conference, titled "Food for Thought," is "a celebration of writers and their work -- much of which has not yet reached published form. The focus is on how one can make their writing better; how one can emerge into print."
A new feature of the annual event will be one-to-one, 20-minute work sessions offered to individual participants by more than 20 editors and award-winning instructors.
The conference will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in TU's Allen Chapman Activity Center, Fifth Place and Gary Avenue. Wideman and Lux will present two public readings.
The conference, part of the Nimrod/Hardman awards celebration in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will open with a roundtable discussion titled "What Feeds and Nourishes the Imagination?"
Morning sessions include "Traditional Menus for Poetry with a Dash of Spice" with Andrea Budy, writer-in-residence at Lyon College; "Fearless Writing: You Can't Drive with the Emergency Brake On: A Taste of the Instructor's Fast-Moving Style and Writing Exercises" with Dragonwagon; "Memoir: The Romance of Writing and Cooking Together" led by Lamar Thomas, a poet and master chef whose cookbook, "Ginger, Lily, and Sweet Fire" is scheduled for publication in October; "Masterclass: Fiction Q & A" with Wideman; "Workshop for Teachers: A Recipe for Sports and Literature" with Ringold; and "Eating Your Words: Food Literature, Its Writing and Publication" with D.J. Frienz, publisher of two cookbooks first written more than 80 years ago.
Afternoon sessions include Deglazing Law and Literature" led by Tulsa lawyer and novelist William Bernhardt; "Eating Your Words: Food Literature, The All of It" with cookbook editors Diane Seebass and Sue Stees; "Writing and Solving Food Mysteries," led by Tulsa World entertainment writer Jim Watts; "Masterclass: Poetry Q & A," with Lux; "Life Into Literature: Marketing and Writing Stories from Real Life" with Linda Watanabe McFerrin, author of the newly published book of short stories, "The Hand of Buddha,"; and "Cooking Up Creative Writing for Children" with Kimberly Meyer of Spring, Texas, co-founder of a creative writing and visual arts organization for children.
The private sessions, "Looking at Your Writing," will be based on samples of no more than three pages of poetry or prose that must be submitted by participants when they register. The conference will conclude with servings of food from the cooking demonstrations, an open mike and book signings.
Wideman and Lux served as judges for Nimrod's annual fiction and poetry contest, which is sponsored by Ruth Hardman, a Tulsa philanthropist. This year's winners will receive their awards at an Oct. 20 dinner and will take part in the private sessions. Winning entries will be published in the journal's "Awards 22 Food for Thought" issue in the fall.
Nimrod's mission, Ringold notes, is "the discovery and support of new writing of vigor and quality."
For additional information or to register, contact Nimrod by phone at (918) 631-3080 or by e-mail at [email protected] or visit the web site: http://www.utulsa.edu/nimrod.
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Contact: Rolf Olsen(918) 631-2653 [email protected]
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