The Mountain Heritage Literary Festival
June 15-17, 2012
Tentative Schedule
Friday, 15 June 2012
8:30-9 a.m.- Registration for Pre-conference Teacher Workshop, Rm. 124, Bus-Ed Bldg., LMU Campus
9 a.m.-noon-Pre-conference Teacher Workshop, same location, let by Spartanburg Writing Project instructors
Tasha Thomas and Dawn Mitchell
11-2 p.m.- Registration-Abraham Lincoln Library & Museum
Mary Allen will welcome you to the festival. Stop here for your packets and residence hall keys.
2-2:30 p.m.- Official Welcome- Arnold Auditorium, Lincoln Library & Museum
LMU President Dr. B. James Dawson welcomes you to our beautiful and historic campus.
2:30-2:50 p.m.- Lisa Soland
3:15-3:55 p.m.-Concurrent Master Classes-- Session 1: Writing Prompts
- Poetry with Dana Michael Chitwood-Avery 214
- Fiction with Joseph Bathanti (Pamela Duncan will give prompts)-Avery 122 or Avery 215
- Nonfiction with Jim Minick-Avery 224
- Writing for the stage with Lisa Soland-Avery 218
4:05-4:45 p.m.- Concurrent Sessions (Choose one)
- Talking Appalachian
Dr. Amy Clark’s upcoming book Talking Appalachian includes essays, fiction and poetry about the experience of being a speaker of one of Appalachia's vernacular dialects and the act of composing in dialect. Hear excerpts from Jane Hicks, George Ella Lyon and Anne Shelby. Avery 122 - Finding Creativity When You Don't Feel Creative
Award winning singer –songwriter Belinda Smith and award winning poet Aaron Smith talk about how to tap into your creative energies whether you have time but no ideas, when you want to write but lack the energy or when your creative well is just too dry. Avery 214 - 15 Twitter Hashtags Every Writer Should Know
S.T. LeGray is a brand strategist and the creative director of Branding Tales. She will talk about twitter basics and how social media can help you as a writer. Avery 215
5-6:30 p.m.- Agate Hill to Appomattox
Arnold Auditorium, Abraham Lincoln Library & Museum
Actress Barbara Bates Smith and musician Jeff Sebens offer a new Civil War show, Agate Hill to Appomattox, which includes excerpts from her productions based on Ron Rash’s Lincolnites, Lee Smith’s On Agate Hill and Allan Gurganus’s Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All.
6:45-7:45 p.m.-Supper-University Dining Hall
Presentation of the Lee Smith Award
8-9 p.m.-Matraca Berg in Concert
Arnold Auditorium, Abraham Lincoln Library & Museum
We’re also thrilled to welcome grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Matraca Berg as this year’s keynote musician. Matraca has written songs for all of the best Nashville musicians. Her 2011 album The Dreaming Fields has been widely acclaimed. Matraca will sign CD’s immediately following her show.
Saturday, 16 June 2012
7:30-9 a.m.-Early Morning Hike-Meeting in Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum parking lot.
Meet your guides, Mary Allen and Tony Maxwell, at the parking lot. A van will be available to take hikers on a short two-mile drive to the Daniel Boone trailhead where you'll start a peaceful, easy hike to the saddle of the Cumberland Gap on the actual Wilderness Road, cut by Daniel Boone in the late 1700s. This quiet and inspirational walk is perfect for waking up your writing mind and discovering your Appalachian heritage. Breakfast bags will be provided. (Rain or shine).
8:15-8:45 a.m.- Breakfast-University Dining Hall
A full Southern breakfast. Come hungry.
9:45-11:45 a.m.-Concurrent Master Classes: Session 2
- Poetry with Dana Michael Chitwood-Avery 214
- Fiction 1 with Joseph Bathanti (Pamela Duncan)-Avery 122 or Avery 215
- Nonfiction with Jim Minick-Avery 224
- Writing for the stage with Lisa Soland-Avery 218
12:15-1:15 p.m.-Awards Dinner-University Dining Hall
Join us for a delicious lunch topped off by our literary contest award announcements. Awards will be given for the short story, poetry, essay and children's writing contests that are sponsored every year by the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival.
1:15-1:45 p.m.-Jesse Stuart Lecture by George Ella Lyon. - University Dining Hall
Introduction by Dr. Sylvia Lynch
George Ella Lyons is one of Appalachia’s most beloved and well known authors. Having published in nearly every genre, her most recent contribution is the picture book Which Side Are You On?, which tells the story of a song written in 1931 by Florence Reece in a rain of bullets. Since then, the song has been sung all over the world by people fighting for their rights. A native of Harlan County, Kentucky, Lyon now lives in Lexington.
2-2:50 p.m.-Concurrent Sessions, choose one:
- Same Sun Here, A Multimedia Presentation from Silas House
Silas House reads from his newest novel, along with audio tracks of his co-author Neela Vaswani and a slide show. Musical accompaniment from Sam Gleaves.
Avery 215 - Deep Revision
Panelists: Darnell Arnoult, Pam Duncan, Georgeann Eubanks and Maurice Manning. No matter what genre you’re working in, revision is the key to making good writing great.
Avery 215
- How Words Make Mountains
Craft workshop with fiction writer Stephanie Whetstone. Creating place and character through syntax and diction.
Avery 122
3:15-4:30 p.m.-Front Porch Talk-Arnold Auditorium, Lincoln Library & Museum
Readings by Joseph Bathanti, Michael Chitwood, Jim Minick and Lisa Soland. Followed by Q&A where you can ask the writers anything you'd like to know about their writing lives.
5:00-6:00 p.m.-Participant Readings
Participants will be able to read short pieces of their work (up to 5 minutes each) at this optional event. Be sure to get your name on the sign-up sheet at the registration table on Friday. Larry Thacker will moderate.
6:30-7:20 p.m.-Keynote Supper-University Dining Hall
Enjoy a delicious home-style supper.
7:20-8:00 p.m.-Keynote Address and Tribute Concert- University Dining Hall
We’re honored to have Maurice Manning return this year to the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival. He and this year’s tribute musician Sue Massek have planned a special program that we will confident will leave us all inspired about our region and our literature. Maurice’s work continues to be rightfully recognized on a national level, but his dedication to our region remains unwavering. In the fall he will begin a new position at Transylvania University that will allow him to live year-round in Kentucky. We are thrilled to contribute to the celebration of his homecoming..
8:15-9:00 p.m.-Writer's Market/Book and CD signing-University Dining Hall
Bring your books, or buy new ones from us. Maurice Manning and all staff members will be available for our grand finale booksigning event, as well as some of our distinguished published authors and editors. While you wait, you can browse around George Brosi’s Appalachian Bookstore.
Sunday, 17 June 2012
8:45-9:30 a.m.-Light Breakfast/Checkout-Dining Hall
We'll have a light breakfast of fruits, pastries, juices and coffee. Please return your room keys at this time.
9:30-10:45 a.m.-Concluding Fiction Session with Joseph Bathanti- Avery 122 or Avery 215
9:30-10:45 a.m.-Optional Session: Anatomy of an Author's Brand
S.T. LeGray is a brand strategist and the creative director of Branding Tales. She offers essential steps for writers at every level to build their author platforms. Avery 122 or Avery 215
11-11:30 a.m.-Hymn Singing- Festival Tent
Anne Shelby and Jason Howard will lead us in an ecumenical closing fellowship of hymn-singing, silent prayer and a message of hope to set us on our travels.
Before leaving the Cumberland Gap area, we suggest you
explore the national park, where you can hike (easy
trails close by or the lengthy and beautiful White Rocks
Trail is about 10 miles away at Rose Hill, VA), spelunk
at the Gap Cave or Sand Cave, go back in time at the
Hensley Settlement, visit the museum and artisan store
at the visitor's center, or view three states from the
Pinnacle Overlook. There is too much to do to pass
it up. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/cuga.
Lincoln Memorial University
Cumberland Gap Parkway
P.O. Box 2005
Harrogate, TN 37752
Phone:
423.869.6432 or 800.325.0900, ext. 6432
