46th Annual UND Writers Conference 101 sessions lead up to March event

Amy Halvorson

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

2-10-2015

Campus Unit

College of Arts & Sciences

Abstract

The schedule for this year’s University of North Dakota Writers Conference 101 sessions has been set for February and March, leading up to the 46 th annual event that will take place at the UND Memorial Union March 25-27.

Writers Conference 101 sessions take place every year on consecutive Sundays and are designed to get people acquainted with the authors who have been invited to the Writers Conference. This year’s Writers Conference theme is “The Other Half.” Featured authors this year include Roxane Gay, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Carol Muske-Dukes, Gish Jen and Alexandra Grant.

Each session begins at 2 p.m., with a brief overview of the author, followed by questions and discussion about their book. Organizers encourage everyone to stop by for the discussions, even if they have not had a chance to read the books.

All sessions are free and open to the public.

The Writers Conference 101 schedule is as follows.

  • Feb. 15, at Ferguson Books and Media - An Untamed State and an excerpt from Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay, led by Dave Haeselin, English instructor at UND.
  • Feb. 22, at the UND Bookstore - Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River, led by Kim Stewart, English lecturer at UND.
  • March 1, at the UND Bookstore - Channeling Mark Twain, by Carol Muske-Dukes, led by Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, associate professor of English at UND.
  • March 8, at Ferguson Books and Media - “In the American Society” from Who’s Irish?And an excerpt from Art, Culture, and Self, by Gish Jen, led by Sheila Liming, assistant professor of English at UND.
  • March 15, at the UND Bookstore - Discussion about Alexandra Grant’s work and the rest of this year’s authors, led by Todd Hebert, assistant professor of Art & Design at UND; and Crystal Alberts, assistant professor of English at UND.

Tidbits about the authors

These Writers Conference 101 sessions will discuss and give the audience more insight on:

  • A woman who has appeared on “Def Poetry Jam,” and who has represented Chicago twice at the National Poetry Slam.
  • A woman whose name has been mentioned more than once as a contender for a Pulitzer Prize this year.
  • A woman who writes about small town rural life, and who grew up on a Michigan farm, learning how to castrate small pigs and milk cows, who then went on to get degrees in philosophy and mathematics.
  • A woman who writes about the Twin Cities and Wyndmere, N.D., and who taught poetry at the Women’s House of Detention on Riker’s Island, and was “married to the icepick killer.”
  • A woman whose work asks what does it mean to be an American, who was recently invited by Harvard to deliver the Massey Lectures in American Civilization.
  • A woman whose art has appeared at Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art and in Watts, who has translated the philosopher Hélène Cixous, and who has collaborated on books with actor Keanu Reeves.

To receive the latest information about the UND Writers Conference, like it on Facebook at “University of North Dakota Writers Conference,” or follow it on Twitter @UNDWritersConf.

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