January 23, 2009
Slate of Authors for Winter With the Writers, A Festival of the Literary Arts
Two American poets, a Scottish novelist, and the 1992 Nobel winner from St. Lucia make up the distinguished, international slate of writers for the 2009 Winter With the Writers, A Festival of the Literary Arts. This is the 69th year that Rollins College has presented its award-winning visiting authors series, which brings renowned writers to campus to share their work and expertise with students and the community. The festival will be held four consecutive Thursdays, beginning the last week in January. Events will include master classes at 4 p.m. and readings, on-stage interviews and book signings at 8 p.m.
The festival is directed by Carol Frost, an award-winning poet and recently appointed Theodore Bruce and Barbara Alfond Professor of English at Rollins. “I've directed other reading series, but Winter with the Writers is on an astral plane in comparison,” said Frost. “This year we have four more amazing writers to build on the festival's rich heritage. I'm honored to be a part of it as the new director to host these literary events at Rollins for all of Central Florida to enjoy.”
The series will kick off Thursday, Jan. 29 with award-winning poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly. Kelly's most recent book, The Orchard (2004), was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and received the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, all for poetry. Kelly’s poems have been anthologized in five Pushcart Prize volumes and six Best American Poetry collections and have appeared in numerous national literary journals. Kelly teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Illinois, which, in 2002, honored her with awards for excellence in teaching.
Awarded the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, “for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity,” Derek Walcott visits Rollins Thursday, Feb. 5. Walcott has published 11 books of poetry, including Collected Poems: 1948-1984, which won the 1986 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, London Magazine and other periodicals. Walcott is the recipient of a five-year fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation (the “Genius Award”) and was awarded the Queen’s Medal for Poetry, among numerous other honors. Also an award-winning playwright, Walcott has created plays that have been produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and the Negro Ensemble Company. His most recent book, Selected Poems, was published in February 2007.
On Thursday, Feb. 12, Scottish novelist Margot Livesey will visit Rollins. The author of seven novels, Livesey is currently a distinguished writer in residence at Emerson College, Boston, Mass. and at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. She has also taught at Boston University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, among others. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Her most recent book, The House on Fortune Street, was published by Harper Collins in 2008. Kirkus Reviews wrote, “Moving, gruffly tender and piercingly truthful. Livesey has plenty of critical respect already, but her talents merit a broad popular audience as well.”
On Thursday, Feb. 19, the series will conclude with former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Collins, who is the Winter Park Institute inaugural scholar-in-residence, was recently named the Irving Bacheller Professor of Creative Writing at Rollins through the 2008-09 academic year. He is the author of more than nine books of poetry, including Ballistics (2008) and Nine Horses (2002). His poetry has appeared in anthologies, textbooks and periodicals, including Harper's, Paris Review and The New Yorker. His work has been featured in the Pushcart Prize anthology and The Best American Poetry. Collins has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1992, he was chosen by the New York Public Library to serve as "Literary Lion" and in 2001, he served as the U.S. Poet Laureate.
Master classes, readings and discussions are free and open to the public. Master classes will be held in the Bush Auditorium and author readings and interviews will be held in the Tiedtke Concert Hall. Guests are encouraged to arrive early for the 8 p.m. readings, as seating is limited. For more information, visit the Winter With the Writers Web site or call 407-646-2666.
