The Mountain Heritage Literary Festival
June 14-16, 2013

Dear Friends of the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival,

Registration for the 2013 festival is upon us, and Denton and I are delighted to let you know what’s in store for this summer.

Our 2013 keynote speaker will be award-winning and multi-talented author Joseph Bathanti. Some of you will remember Joseph from the fiction master class last year. We are delighted to bring him back this year and celebrate his new role as North Carolina Poet Laureate, a well-deserved honor for a fabulous writer and teacher.  
Our musical keynote musicians are Dale Ann Bradley and Steve Gulley, a dynamic duo in bluegrass music and two of the most gifted writers, musicians and vocalists in the business. And they’re also our neighbors, born and raised right here near LMU. It is such an honor to have them share in the celebration of Appalachian traditions.

Sue Massek is back with us this year, expanding her contribution by presenting a one-woman show on the life of Sarah Ogan Gunning, a little-known heroine in folk/labor music history. The musical play was written by legendary folk singer and community organizer Si Kahn.

Our master classes this year are led by a team of outstanding writers. Teaching fiction, we have Meredith Sue Willis, who may live in South Orange, New Jersey now, but grew up in Shinnston, West Virginia, a rich source for much of her work.  Our poetry master class leader is Aaron Smith, whose new collection, Appetite, is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Thom Gunn Award. Creative nonfiction will be led by North Carolina writer David Joy.  Connie Jordan Green will teach writing for young people.  Lucinda MacKethan, Alumni Distinguished Professor of English Emerita at NC State University, will give the James Still Lecture.

Ann Shelby will lead us in a rousing celebration of the spirit and the imagination at Sunday’s closing event. 

This year our visual arts exhibit will take on a new venue.  Our new The Paul V. Hamilton Art Center will house an exhibition of painters and LMU faculty members Betty DeBord and Elissa Graff, and the metal sculptures of William Brock.

Back by popular demand, Tasha Thomas and Dawn Mitchell from the Spartanburg Writing Project will lead a pre-conference workshop for K-12 teachers on Friday morning. This year’s workshop will focus on using Appalachian literature in the classroom to support the common core.

And lastly, we are holding our second annual Cumberland Gap Writers Studio in collaboration with Table Rock Writers Workshop. Writers who, after three days of inspiring workshops, panels, and presentations want to stay and write all day and share the writing at night, have the opportunity to live in the LMU dorms, take advantage of the LMU facilities and landscape, and write and share from Sunday until Friday. Writers who attend both the festival and the studio will receive a discount. Come get inspired, then stay and continue to be creative!

We’ve put together a great Mountain Heritage Literary Festival schedule for this summer. It’s a wonderful balance of good friends from years past and the new voices of first time MHLF presenters.  As always, the schedule is packed. It will be hard to top last year’s slate, but that is our challenge every year. And your participation and contribution help us raise the bar each year of the festival. We all learn from and nurture each other. Come join us this June and share in the camaraderie and shared diligent intention to take our imaginations seriously in the best possible  and joyful way.

We hope to see you in Harrogate this summer. In the meantime, if you have any questions about our festival please feel free to contact either Denton or me: denton.loving@LMUnet.edu | 423.869.6432; darnell.arnoult@LMUnet.edu | 615.715.3956.

Darnell Arnoult,
Co-Director, MHLF
Lincoln Memorial University
Cumberland Gap Parkway
P.O. Box 2005
Harrogate, TN 37752

Office phone:
423.869.6432 or 800.325.0900, ext. 6432