The 23rd Annual Literary Conference, “Thresholds,” will be held on the Casper College campus October 8-10.
Sponsored by Casper College and ARTCORE, the conference will feature writing workshops, free public talks on poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and readings by recipients of the 2009 Wyoming Arts Council Poetry Fellowships, according to Terry Rasmussen, English instructor at Casper College and conference director.
The conference will feature workshops conducted by authors William Powers, Greg Pape, Tim Sandlin, and Linda Hasselstrom.
On October 8 and 9, both Sandlin and Hasselstrom will present workshops from 2 to 5 p.m. each day.
Sandlin, fiction writer, is the author of “Sex and Sunset,” “Skipped Parts,” “Sorrow Floats,” “Social Blunders,” “Jim Hendrix Turns Eighty” and “Rowdy in Paris.” His workshop, “Start and Finish Your Novel” will feature advice on both starting and finishing a novel.
Hasselstrom, who writes primarily nonfiction, is the author of “Between Grass and Sky,” “Bitter Creek Junction,” “Bison: Monarch of the Plains” – which was named by the Independent Publishers Association as best environmental and nature book of 1999 – and her latest, “No Place Like Home: Field Notes from a Western Life,” published by University of Nevada Press this year. Hasselstrom’s workshop, “Writing to See, Seeing to Write” will feature in-class writing exercises and discussions on writing. She will also analyze an essay to show how a well-known writer achieves her effects.
Powers and Pape’s workshops will both be held on October 9 and 10 from 9 a.m. to noon each day. Powers is the author of two critically acclaimed books from Bloomsbury/Macmillan: “Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa’s Fragile Edge,” and “Whispering in the Giant’s Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia’s War on Globalization.” His forthcoming book, “The Soft World” will be released later this year.
Power’s workshop will feature two topics: “Writing for Change” and “From Seed to Sale: The Art and Business of Writing and Publishing.” In the first workshop participants will be asked to consider something in their lives, their communities, or their world that they’d like to change. Day two of the workshop will feature an intensive, learning-packed seminar.
Pape, Montana Poet Laureate (2007-2009), is the author of nine books of poetry, including “American Flamingo,” “Sunflower Facing the Sun,” “Storm Pattern, Black Branches,” and “Border Crossings.” Pape will serve as the judge for the 2010 Wyoming Arts Council Creative Writing Fellowships. His workshop is entitled: “Poetry and the Repeated Encounter with Particulars.”
In addition to the workshops, the conference will feature a talk “On Becoming a Writer” by Powers on October 8 at 7:30 in Durham Hall, located in the Aley Fine Arts Center. A free chili social – featuring classical guitar by Rainer Schwarzkopf – for all conference attendees will take place at noon on October 10 at the Izaak Walton Clubhouse. Following the social, the announcement of the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship winner and selected readings will begin at 1:30. Pape will host this event. Finally a poetry slam will be held that night at 9. Emceed by George Vlastos the poetry slam will include prose readings, music, and other creative acts. The slam will be held at the Metro Coffee Company in downtown Casper.
All events, with the exception of the workshops, are free and open to all.
For more information on the 23rd Annual Literary Conference log onto the Casper College website at www.caspercollege.edu/events. To register for the workshops, contact Rasmussen at 307-268-2480.
