Community Minded TV airs Get Lit!

Have you noticed the Get Lit! coverage on TV lately? If you haven't you should check out Community Minded TV (channel 14 on Comcast). CMTV is an awesome program that produces and aires locally made TV. Started in January of 2007 by Community Minded Enterprises, CMTV has grown into an excellent place to go if you want to learn about TV production. Their goal is "to bring a new voice to television by providing programming that builds and strengthens the Spokane community." Not only do they run a TV station, they create TV programs for local organizations, teach classes, and offer graphic design services. The programs they create cover many topics, and come in many forms: documentaries, commercials, and fundraising videos. The classes they offer include video production, Adobe products, lighting, and many more.

For the past couple of months, CMTV has been playing a few selections from the 2009 Get Lit! Festival. They have been airing the panel discussion "The Changing Media Landscape in the Inland Empire" as well as selections from the Teen Poetry Slam. Check out their listings for when Get Lit! will next be on.

Are you a Lit! Lover?

This month we've unveiled a new, easy way for our supporters, lovers of literature in our community, to help keep Get Lit! Programs going. As many of our regular large supporters (businesses, universities, grants, foundations, public funding) feel the pinch of less money and more need, we turn to you, the individuals in our community for help. Get Lit! tries to keep our events affordable or free, always adding more opportunities for our community to enjoy literary programs more easily. Please consider what these programs are worth to you and consider contributing.

To become a Lit! Lover, we ask you to donate $50-$100 by visiting our secure website. Then here's the important thing: tell two friends who may match your donation. Spread the word. Just like how we have someone we've just got to tell about the great book/article/story/poem we just read, consider telling them about what Get Lit! means to you and encourage them to contribute too.

Since 1998, Get Lit! Programs has offered an annual literary festival to the Inland Northwest. Past festival authors have included Salman Rushdie, Kurt Vonnegut, Rita Dove, David Sedaris, Sherman Alexie, Jane Smiley, David Suzuki, Garrison Keilor, Sarah Vowell, and Dave Barry. In 2003, Get Lit! Programs expanded to host Authors Tour, a program which brings published authors into K-12 schools for day-long presentations in the classroom. Writers in Residence, which sponsors writers in K-12 schools for an extended period up to a whole academic year began in 2004. In 2006, Get Lit! became the regional sponsor for Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation contest for high school students. Get Lit! Programs continues to develop community partnerships aimed at engaging community member of all ages with literature.

So if you've ever enjoyed what Get Lit! brings to our community, please consider becoming a Lit! Lover. Donate $1, $5, $50, $500, or $1 million, whatever you can. And be sure to tell at least two friends who may be able to contribute. Every little bit helps and goes directly back into the programs we produce.

November 2009 Newsletter

Are you a Lit! Lover?

Get Lit! Programs is proud to bring quality literary programs like Poetry Out Loud, Authors Tour, Writers in Residence, and of course, the Get Lit! Festival to the Inland Northwest. In order to continue this twelve-year-long tradition, we need your help. Become a Lit! Lover and join Eastern Washington University as we engage the Inland Northwest community in a celebration of the written word. To become a Lit! Lover, we are asking for a pledge between $50 and $100, plus a commitment that you will tell two friends who might match your donation to Get Lit! Programs. EWU’s College of Arts and Letters hopes for many more years of community arts engagement through programs like Get Lit! Thank you so much for considering a pledge. Any amount,large or small, is a great help.

2010 Festival Authors
Get Lit! Programs is thrilled to announce some of our headliners for the 2010 Get Lit! Festival, including Richard Russo, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls, and fiction writer Janet Fitch, most famously known as the author of Oprah's book club novel White Oleander. Dr. Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed scholar of religions, will be here to discuss religion’s role in contemporary global conflict. Award-winning performance poet, Patricia Smith will join local jazz musicians for an evening of jazz poetry. For our younger readers, children’s author Janet Wong will read her poetry-laced stories and Victor Lodato, acclaimed playwright and Guggenheim Fellow, will read from his first novel Mathilda Savitch for young adults. The Festival will also feature thirty other local and regional authors, panel discussion, contests and workshops for al ages and genres. Mark your calendar for April 14-21, 2010 and don’t miss out!

Bring Authors Tour to Your School

Since 2003, Get Lit! Programs has brought published authors into K-12 schools in the Inland Northwest. Carefully chosen for their quality publications, genuine passion for writing, and energetic approach to working with youth, participating authors bring engaging programs into schools where many students have never met a “real author.” During their daylong visits, authors strive to give students and teachers a concrete, joyous, oh-my-gosh experience with literature. Check our authors available this year and bring an author to your school!

Will Write for Suite

Would you write a poem for a suite at the Davenport? Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931), an American poet who combined poetry with performing arts, called the Spokane's Davenport Hotel home for five years between 1924 and 1929. While living in room 1129, Lindsey held court in the Davenport lobby, reciting his poetry and mingling with the Spokane elite. Now, his stay is commemorated on a plaque in the hotel's lobby.

Influenced greatly by jazz, Lindsay's poems focused primarily on the sound and performance possible within a poem. His most famous work "The Congo" uses jazz rhythms and onomatopoeia to create, rather than describe, the sounds of indigenous drums and dancing.

Lindsay began his career traveling the country giving performances of his poetry in exchange for food and lodging. As his fame grew, he was invited to more prestigious readings, including a performance for President Woodrow Wilson.

To celebrate this poet, the Davenport Hotel will hold its second annual celebration of Lindsay in the Marie Antoinette Ballroom on Sunday, November 8 at 7pm. “Vachel Lindsay: The Davenport Hotel’s Jazz-Age Mystic” will include performances of Lindsay’s poetry as well as local poets reading their own work. The event is free and open to the public. Learn more about this and other local literary events at Get Lit!'s Literary Event Calendar.