Travel Class Schedule for the Next Two Weeks

Hi Everyone -- Hope you all had a lovely (and inspiring) break!

Please e-mail me your Susan Orlean-inspired pieces by 5 p.m. on Friday. Due to next week's Writer's Festival, we won't meet in class this Saturday, March 20, but I will send you comments on your pieces via e-mail.

Instead of meeting in class, I ask that you read Stern's New and Selected Poems and attend the festival events next week.

The schedule again is:
* Monday, March 22 -- Faculty/alumni reading/festival kick-off, 7 p.m.
* Tuesday, March 23 -- Fiction writer/poet Kim Chinquee, craft talk at noon and reading at 7 p.m.
* Wednesday, March 24 -- Fiction writer Sherrie Flick, reading at 7 p.m.
* Thursday, March 25 -- Poets Gerry Stern and Anne Marie Macari, reading at 7 p.m.
* Friday, March 26 -- Fiction writer/poet Joseph Bathanti, craft talk at noon and reading at 7 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public. All events are in the Village Hall Coffeehouse. Village credit is available.

In order to receive a passing Participation grade for the week, you must attend at least two events. More is much better. Please be sure that one of those events is Stern's reading on Thursday, since we're reading his book for class. Sign-up sheets will be available at all events.

Your writing assignment for the week will be to write about one of the festival events. Approach it as a travel writing piece. This is an annual event, so keep that in mind as you write.

Let's plan to meet in class on Saturday, March 27. Pending his health, we may have a Pittsburgh tour with Gerry Stern. If that doesn't work, we'll visit the Carnegie Museums as a back-up.

Assignment: Wholey's Via Susan Orlean

Using Susan Orlean's "All Mixed Up" (p. 55 in MY KIND OF PLACE) as a model, write a piece about your tour of Wholey's and The Strip. Length: Approx. 4 pages. Due next class. Make copies to share.

This Weekend in Travel: Back to the Strip

Hi Everyone -- This weekend, we'll hope for no snow and plan a make-up visit to the Strip District. Please review all the previous posts on this site and in the Toker book. We'll also discuss Susan Orlean's book and how it relates to the art of finding a story everywhere.

Our tour of Wholey's begins at 1:30 p.m. We'll meet in class for workshop and lecture, then leave campus by 12:45 or earlier.

Please remember to post your blog addresses. Also, review the schedule for the Writers Festival. Two of our class members -- Liz and Joy -- will be reading during the festival, so be sure to come out and cheer them on.

National Book Award Winner Gerald Stern Headlines Writers Festival March 22-26

(Please note: As part of your class requirements, plan to attend at least two Writers Festival events. More is always better!)

Poet and Essayist Gerald Stern, winner of the National Book Award, headlines this year’s Writers Festival at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.

The week-long festival begins Monday, March 22 and continues through Friday, March 26. The festival features readings, lectures and book signings from nationally known poets and writers. All events will be in the Village Hall Coffeehouse and are free and open to the public.

Stern, the author of sixteen poetry collections and a memoir, reads at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 25 with poet Anne Marie Macari.

The full festival schedules kicks off with a reading from Pitt-Greensburg faculty authors and alumni on Monday, March 22 at 7 p.m. Faculty authors include Judith Vollmer, Stephen Murabito, Richard Blevins and Lori Jakiela. Alumni readers for Monday’s event include Tim Gebadlo, Shane Duschack, Meghan Tutolo, Joseph Reed and Adam Matcho.

On Tuesday, Kim Chinquee, fiction writer and prose poet, will give a craft lecture at noon and a reading/book signing at 7 p.m. Chinquee is the author of two books of fictions/prose poems – Oh Baby (Ravenna Press) and Pretty (White Pine Press). Opening readers will be Kelly Scarff and Joy Pinkney.

On Wednesday, Sherrie Flick, author of the novel Reconsidering Happiness (University of Nebraska Press) and a flash-fiction collection I Call This Flirting (Flume Press), will read at 7 p.m. Opening readers will be Brian Cummins and Ashleigh Chicko.

Thursday features Stern and poet Anne Marie Macari. Stern is the author of 16 poetry collections and a memoir. In addition to the National Book Award, he’s received the National Jewish Book Award, The Ruth Lilly Prize and the Wallace Stevens Award. Macari is the author of three poetry collections, most recently She Heads Into the Wilderness (Autumn House Press). Opening readers will be Liz Russell and Jeff Sharon. They’ll read at 7 p.m.

The festival wraps up on Friday with Joseph Bathanti, who will give a craft talk at noon and a reading at 7 p.m. Bathanti is the author of 10 books of fiction, poetry and nonfiction. His latest is Restoring Sacred Art (poems from Star Cloud Press). Opening reader will be David Humbertson.

The Writers Festival is supported by funds from Pitt-Greensburg’s Student Government Association, Office of Academic Affairs and The Humanities Villages. It’s co-sponsored by Pendulum, the campus’ twice-yearly student literary magazine; the Written/Spoken series; and the Pitt-Greensburg Writing Program. For more information, contact Lori Jakiela, associate professor of English and festival director, at 724-836-7481 or loj@pitt.edu.