The NC Literary Festival
dal 4/4/2002 al 6/4/2002
Segnalato da
4/4/2002
The NC Literary Festival
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
The NC Literary Festival is a spring event cooperatively organized and sponsored by the libraries of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University through their Friends of the Library programs. It will be held on even years with the location rotating among the three campuses.
The NC Literary Festival is a spring event cooperatively organized and sponsored by the
libraries of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University
and Duke University through their Friends of the Library programs. It will be held on even
years with the location rotating among the three campuses. Goals are to promote reading
and writing and to spotlight the literature of the American South, especially North Carolina.
The UNC-Chapel Hill Academic Affairs Library will host the North Carolina Literary
Festival on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill on April 5-6, 2002. Opening ceremonies are at
7:00 p.m. Friday evening at Memorial Hall. Acclaimed fiction writer, poet and essayist Julia
Alvarez will be the keynote speaker. A Friends reception for Ms. Alvarez and other visiting
writers and performers will follow at the Carolina Inn.
On Saturday the action will move downtown to the main green and surrounding buildings at
McCorkle Place. Readers of all ages and backgrounds -- children and adults alike -- are
welcome. More than a hundred writers and performers will be on hand to read from and
sign books, conduct workshops, and take part in panel discussions and performances. This
group will include nationally prominent writers from various genres, for example: Lucille
Clifton, Fred Chappell and Alan Shapiro (poetry,); Gail Godwin, Allan Gurganus, Randall
Kenan, Robert Morgan, Lee Smith and Elizabeth Spencer (literary fiction); Hal Crowther,
David Cecelski, Reynolds Price and Louis Rubin (literary nonfiction); Michael Malone,
Margaret Maron and John Miller (mystery); Bland Simpson, Janet Lembke and James
Applewhite (nature writing); Orson Scott Card, David Drake and John Kessell (science
fiction/fantasy); Sarah Dessen, Frances Dowell and Louise Hawes (young adult fiction);
and William Hooks, Melodye Rosales and Vera Williams (children’s literature). Regional,
local and student wordsmiths also will participate. In addition, storytellers Donald Davis
and Ashley Bryan will be featured, and a special “family tent†will cater to the interests of
children under 12 and their families.
For visitors who want to browse, exhibitor stalls representing publishing houses, literary and
library associations, readers groups and UNC Student Stores will provide ample
opportunity.
All festival activities are open to the public, and nearly all are free. The reception on Friday
evening and the pay performances of Killer Diller are the only exceptions. Between 7,000
and 10,000 visitors are expected.
A number of UNC campus units are collaborating with the Friends of the Library to offer
events and services related to the festival. These collaborators include LEARN North
Carolina, Ibiblio, the School of Information and Library Science, the Institute for the Arts and
Humanities, the Institute of Latin American Studies, the Johnston Center for Undergraduate
Excellence, the Center for the Study of the American South, the Sonja Haynes Stone Black
Cultural Center, the Carolina Environmental Program, and the departments of English and
Communication Studies. Volunteers from other schools (e.g., NCSU, Duke, NCCU, Shaw)
and organizations (e.g., NC Center for the Book, Hayti Heritage Center, El Pueblo, NC
Writers’ Network, Orange Co. Literacy Council) are helping as well. In addition, creative
writing programs from across the state are sending some of their most talented teachers
and students.
Even with all this talent and skilled assistance in place, the NC Literary Festival needs
volunteers to help with various tasks. Some tasks may be done in advance of the festival.
Others are same day jobs; still others are follow-up activities. If you love books and think
you might like to help, please visit our volunteers page.
Contributions from sponsors and friends also are extremely important. Individuals,
organizations and businesses may support the festival either financially or though in-kind
gifts. Various levels of sponsorship and related benefits are available. For more
information, please see contributors.
University of North Carolina
campus in Chapel Hill