Enjoyed Get Lit!? Then Make Lit!

Fired up after all the amazing literary events of the 2009 Get Lit! festival? Ready to put your own prose on the page?

Then this is the opportunity you can't miss!

Finding Your Voice: Creative Writing Your Way

EWU’s Writers in the Community (WITC) program is pleased to offer a series of post-GetLit! writing forums for adult writers (18 and over). The forums will focus on the use of voice in literary fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Across genres, controlling the voice in a given piece of writing is at the core of crafting it effectively. A writer may also use voice to carve out a unique style.

Graduate student instructors will use voice as a springboard into a discussion on the craft of writing. We’ll also look at examples of effective voice in literature, engage in interactive writing exercises, and offer each other guidance and support. Most importantly, we’ll actually apply the techniques we discuss, so bring ideas for a poem, short story, or essay you’d like to begin.

FREE OF CHARGE

When:
May 2nd from 2-4pm All Comers (Fiction, Nonfiction, & Poetry)
May 9th from 2-4pm Poetry
May 16th from 2-4pm Fiction
May 23rd from 2-4pm Nonfiction

Where:
Forums will be held at EWU’s INLAND NORTHWEST CENTER FOR WRITERS located at 501 N. Riverpoint Boulevard, suite 425. For directions and sign-up information, please contact WITC Director Ross Carper at witc@ewu.edu or (509) 359-7437.

RSVP SOON for the sessions you'd like to attend!

Poetry Weekly Launched and Running!

Is lack of poetry creating a void in your life now that the 2009 festival is over? Don't think you'll be able to pull through in time for the next local poetry slam? Words of longer prose are not stopping the withdrawal shakes?

No worries! We have the cure!

Jaime Wood, Rebecca Morton, Chris Howell, and Pamela Holway have spearheaded a new poetry project on the EWU Press website. Anyone with access to the Internet can now enjoy Poetry Weekly.

Each week, the site features a new poem by one of the Press' poets along with "A word from the poet" which provides additional insight into the poem (and the poet). You can also browse previous entries.

Navigate to http://ewupress.ewu.edu/poetryweekly.htm for your weekly dose. Support the Press and the arts by sharing the link with friends and family.

Thank You and Recap

The 2009 festival is over and here at the Get Lit! office we're tidying up the last few details before we get started on the preparations for next year's big event. We hope you enjoyed all of the fantastic authors and literary events that the festival offered.

Many of you filled out the feedback forms we handed out at the events, but we'd still like to hear from you in terms of what we did well, what we can improve on, and what you'd like to see at future festivals. Please use the comment section for this post to let us know.

It may seem like a year is a long time to wait for the next Get Lit! festival, but don't despair, we'll keep the blog going to let you know about literary news and events in our community. You can also check out our community calendar on the Get Lit! website.

Meanwhile, read some of the festival authors' blogs for the insider perspective of participating in a literary festival. Midge Raymond posted some glorious photos of the Spokane Falls in her Dispatches from Get Lit!. Oliver de la Paz's blog, Pugnacious Pinoy, has great shots of the other authors, as well as other stuff. (Our favorite: Food Porn!)

Martha Silano blogged diligently throughout the festival. Read about her first impression of Spokane and joy over her goody bag in Live From Spokane/Get Lit!, find out how sparkles might help you channel your muse in A Little Bleary Eyed but Still Very Lit, recognize the top ten highlights of a successful Charles Baxter event in Post-Charles Baxter Reading & Conversation at the Bing Theatre, Spokane, learn how to save the environment in David Suzuki Rocks Spokane, find out why Simon Armitage and Kathy Fagan impressed Martha in Get Lit! Finale: Kathy Fagan & Simon Armitage.

A big thank you to all of the festival authors, organizers, olunteers and attendees. Without you, the festival would not have been the great success it was.

THANK YOU!

The Poetry of Superheros

Are you able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Is the absence of telephone booths due to increasing popularity of cell phones forcing you to look for alternative places to change your clothes? Then this is an opportunity for you.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

Editors Andrea Reid and Maya Jewell Zeller are currently seeking submissions for an anthology of superhero poetry, tentatively titled Between Saviors and Villains: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry Inspired by American Superheroes.

Send 3-6 poems and a cover letter including your contact information, comments on how your poems are meant to explore the concept of superheroes, and a brief bio to superheropoetryanthology@gmail.com. Please include all materials in one attached (.rtf) document. Simultaneous submissions are fine, as are poems previously published in magazines, chapbooks, and full-length poetry collections. Please note these credits in your bio.

Questions? Email the editors at the above address, or visit their website: http://www.superheropoetryanthology.blogspot.com/

Does it hurt to slam a poem?

Walt Whitman might appreciate the fact that slam poetry takes a lively road. Don't expect to sleep through it, though, because slam poetry is anything but subdued. This isn't anything like a poetry reading. As part of the EWU intern staff promoting the poetry slams for the past two years, I can tell you that these are definitely exciting events. Sure it's great to experience the work and wisdom of published authors here during Get Lit!, but the poetry slams are an excellent opportunity to experience some true local talent.



What should you expect? For the youth slam (ages 5-12), you should expect some animated skits from very talented emerging writers. Don't be surprised if the stage is overtaken by dancing bananas or animals. And some of them will absolutely blow your mind with their command of language. Hearing a fifth-grader turn a metaphor in on itself or make the sound of a word into a living creature is pretty amazing.

What about the Teen Slam? This is for the 13-18 age group. Well, expect some beat-boxing and expect volume--lots of it. (FYI: use your hands to form a box in front of your mouth and create a rhythmic series of bass-line noises). Expect a performance. Expect to be jolted by fresh language and creative twists. Yeah, I know the teen slam is at the Empyrean coffee house, but you won't need the caffeine to stay awake. Expect to be assaulted by words. Poetry will slam into you.

And the College Slam? That brand new, squeaky clean college slam, omplete with plasticy smell? Hmm. To be honest, we aren't exactly sure what to expect. We wanted to give the big guys (and girls) a chance to play too since the kids seemed to be having a great time. But it is yet to be seen what comes of it. Words. I can guarantee some words strung together in unique ways...ways that will... Well, just come and check it out for yourself.

Slamming April 13, 14, 15. Check the website for details: www.ewu.edu/getlit

Letting Their VOICES Be Heard OVER The Crowd

Have you ever had an uncle, grandfather, mother, or friend who told really good stories? It's captivating to sit and listen as they spin their words into something tangible.

The EWU MFA's Voiceover began as an opportunity for graduate students in creative writing to share their work with an audience outside of the classroom. It's a chance to see how an audience might react to a poem or short story or essay. Because this is a read-out-loud situation, writers often choose a humorous or an intense work--something that can be performed. And being in the audience is much more like attending a play or series of dramatic monologues than a stuffy reading.

It's a chance to really have fun with a piece of writing since it's not the same as working on thesis material or even preparing a text for workshop review by other students. It's a break--mentally--from that rigorously intense, academic, focus. Some serious writers break out the jester's hat and dance around on stage while throwing water balloons and custard pies (metaphorically speaking). Others use it as a way to try out new kinds of writing. Like the time somebody wrote a fiction story about all the things not to do in a fiction story.

Overall, it's a time for storytelling. Come and listen tonight at the Empyrean Coffeehouse (April 10 at 7:30). Because, I mean, who doesn't love a good yarn?

Got Get Lit!?

Are you anxiously awaiting the fantastic line-up of literary events that the Get Lit! Festival is offering this year? Can't wait to hear your favorite authors and discover new ones? Having trouble sleeping because you crave literary prose being read out loud to you?

If you answered yes to these or any other questions today, you should attend one of the many Milk Crate Readings that kick off all around Spokane this week. Works of the festival authors will be read by highly trained volunteers dressed in teal t-shirts while towering over you on a milk crate.

Wednesday 4/8
Gonzaga University (outside Foley Center Library) 12:00 - 1:00 pm

Friday 4/10
Spokane Falls Community College (outside of Library) 12:45 - 1:10 pm
Spokane Community College (outside Library) 10:20 - 11: 30 am
Whitworth University (on campus) 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Saturday 4/11
Thomas Hammer Coffee 12:00 - 1:00 pm
Auntie's Bookstore 2:00 - 3:00 pm
River Park Square Mall (front entrance) 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Northtown Mall/Barnes & Noble 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Barnes & Noble in Valley 3:00-4:00 pm
Spokane Valley Mall (food court) 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Monday 4/13
Eastern Washington University (Cheney Library) 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

KYRS Interviews Festival Authors

Listen Up! KYRS is interviewing Get Lit! authors this month. Tune in to 92.3FM or 89.9FM (streaming live here) to find out more about the likes of William Dietrich (April 1), Paul Roberts, David Suzuki (April 15). You can hear Paul Haeder interview these authors and others on Tipping Points: Voices from the Edge Wednesdays at 3pm (rebroadcast Thursdays at 7am).

Note: The Paul Roberts interview is now slated for Thursday, April 9 at 11am (rebroadcast on Sunday at 9am).

Plus, have you heard about Spokane Open Poetry? It is on Sundays from 5:30-6pm. I bet you'll even hear some of our very own Get Lit! poets reading and discussing writing there.

Moo to you too...

Starting April 6, you can listen to Spokane Public Radio's own Tony Flinn read excerpts from Jane Smiley's novel Moo. Listen to KPBX on 91.1 FM from 6:30 pm-7:00 pm Monday through Thursday. The readings will continue throughout April, so tune in!

Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about Moo:

"Smiley delivers a surprising tour de force, a satire of university life that leaves no aspect of contemporary academia unscathed. The setting is a large midwestern agricultural college known as Moo U., whose faculty and students Smiley depicts with sophisticated humor, turning a gimlet eye on the hypocrisy, egomania, prejudice and self-delusion that flourish on campus-and also reflect society at large. Everybody at Moo U. has an agenda: academic, sexual, social, economic, political and philosophical. Among the more egregious types that Smiley portrays are Dr. Lionel Gift, an intellectual whore who calls students "customers" and is willing to skew research to further his name and line his pocketbook; Dr. Bo Jones, who is conducting a secret experiment on an appealing boar named Earl Butz (Earl and the horses on campus are nicer than the humans by a mile); and a superlatively bossy secretary who is a lot smarter than the Ph.Ds she serves. A chapter titled "Who's in Bed With Whom" clears things up in that department-but only temporarily, since musical beds is a continuous game. A quartet of women roommates who all hide secrets from each other, an unscrupulous "little Texan with jug ears" who wants to give the college tainted money, and a stuffy dean who thinks that anything he desires is God's will are some of the large cast of characters that Smiley manipulates with remarkable ease-and though some portrayals verge on caricature, she never goes over the line. Details of midwest topography, weather and culture are rendered with unerring authenticity. The narrative sails along with unflagging vigor and cleverness, and even the ironic denouement has an inevitability that Smiley orchestrates with hilarious wit."

You can see Jane Smiley in person on Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 at the Bing Crosby Theater. Tickets are $20 ($10 students). Click here to purchase tickets.

Mystical Creatures at Auntie's on Wednesday, April 8 @ 7 PM

For centuries, mystical creatures have hidden in Fablehaven to prevent extinction. Then two kids discover that their grandfather is the current care taker of this mythical land and an arcane evil is unleashed, threatening not just Fablehaven, but the entire world.

Gear up for the Get Lit! Festival and join author Brandon Mull on April 8 as he reads from the fourth book in his series, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary. Enter the woods occupied by greedy trolls, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies--at your own risk.


April 8 @ 7 pm
Auntie’s Bookstore
402 W. Main
(509) 838-0206