Feeling Board?*

We’ve got a new great way for you to get more involved with Get Lit! and for us to learn more about you. Our message board is up and running and we want to know what you are thinking, reading, and writing. The message board is a place for you to wonder, read, rant, discuss, and create with other readers and writers, so get your voice out there.

To help get things rolling, we’ll be awarding two free tickets to a headlining event of your choice at the 2010 festival. The tickets will be awarded to the contributor who makes the most relevant, accurate, high quality, and frequent posts as determined by our staff. You can build on an existing thread or start your own, our goal is to hear from you!

Find our message board by going to the Get Lit! Programs website, hover over “Get Involved” and click on “Message Board.” Super simple.

Here’s another yummy tidbit for EWU students, faculty, and staff: you can now access excerpts from the works of 2010 festival authors on Blackboard. So far, we’ve included work from Reza Aslan, Patricia Smith, Victor Lodato, Diana Joseph, Ana Maria Spagna, Susan Rich, and Janet Wong. Download! Read! Teach! Reflect! We’ll be adding more work all the time.

To enroll in the Get Lit! Blackboard site: go to blackboard.ewu.edu, log on, click on Courses in the upper tabs, search "Get Lit," and click "Enroll." Again, super simple.

Thanks for joining the conversation!

*This horrible/hilarious pun courtesy of our dear Program Coordinator, Dani.

Get Lit! Festival Poster Contest

Over here in the Get Lit! Programs office, we're always exciting about working with budding writers and artists in our community. So for this year's festival poster design, we turned to the very talented Visual Communication Design students at Eastern Washington University. Results are varied in design, concept, and aesthetic and it was thrilling to see such a range of choices.

Congratulations to our winner, Beth Karper, and thank you to all the participants for submitting. You can view Beth's winning design and all the other entries on our contest page.

Everyone in the office had a different favorite, we all had a different least favorite, but one thing that was consistent is was how impressed we were with how much work something like this takes to create. The ones we loved were for all different reasons, and we're really excited by having so many great designs to choose from. One of the designs we didn't choose for the poster, we'll still be using for the festival t-shirts, and I personally can't wait to wear mine.

So to all our participants, thanks for the hard work and for helping spread the word about the festival through your art!

Selected Shorts Writing Contest

NPR's Selected Shorts, a celebration of the short story, is coming to Spokane for the Get Lit! Festival on Friday, April 16 at 7pm at the Bing Crosby Theater. Selected Shorts features actors reading short stories, giving the narratives a thrilling new life.

Selected Shorts just announced the 2010 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize with guest judge Nathan Englander.

The winning submission will be read as part of the Selected Shorts performance at Symphony Space on April 7, 2010, just one short week before the Get Lit! Festival. The story will be recorded for possible later broadcast as part of the public radio series. The winner will receive $1000.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to make a strong showing for the Inland Northwest through this national contest? The winner is announced in April...just in time for the winner to be a part of the Get Lit! Festival!

Here are the story requirements:
Submit a single short story that addresses the theme, Apartments and Neighbors.
Your story must have a title.
Make sure your name and contact information appear on the first page of your story. If you are submitting online, this information needs to appear on the first page of the attached Word document. Include page numbers.
Your story must be no more than 2 double-spaced typed pages in length (Times New Roman, 12 pt font) and no more than 750 words.

Find more information here and happy writing!

Budding Poets, Get Excited!

If you are a student in the Spokane County area in grades 1 through 12 and want to see your poetry performed, then this is the contest for you! Spokane Civic Theatre and Get Lit! are joining forces to bring this incredible opportunity to life. Just submit your poetry by the deadline (January 31) and you could see your work on stage, in front of hundreds of people. The winner will also receive a free class at the Spokane Civic Theatre Academy.

To join in this fun-filled contest, first pick your three favorite poems you've written that are shorter than 21 lines. The poems can be on any family-appropriate topic, just make sure they are original--no cheating. Then send the poems, along with your name, grade, school, parent/guardian name, phone number, and e-mail address, via email to the Poetry Contest Coordinator Sandra Hosking at debutpromotions@cs.com. A panel of judges will chose the finalists, and their poetry will be dramatized and performed by local actors during the Get Lit! Festival. A winner will then be chosen, and will receive a free class from Spokane Civic Theatre Academy.

If you have any questions, you can call Sandra at (509) 953-9928.

The bare facts:

What? Up to 3 poems, no longer than 21 lines each

Who? Spokane County students in grades 1 through 12 (home school included)

Cost? FREE

Deadline? Jan. 31, 2010

Questions? Call Sandra Hosking at (509) 953-9928

To submit:

Send up to 3 poems to Poetry Contest Coordinator Sandra Hosking at debutpromotions@cs.com.

Either send the poems in the body of the e-mail or attach a Microsoft Word or PDF document.

Include your name, grade, school, parent/guardian name, phone number, and e-mail address.