Re: 2013 Little Grassy Literary Festival Events

Readings by poet Ross Gay and fiction writer Jared Yates Sexton!

The 2013 Little Grassy Literary Festival kicks off next Wednesday night
(4/10/2013) at 8 p.m. in the John C. Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library with
a joint reading by poet Ross Gay and fiction writer and SIU alum Jared Yates
Sexton.

The SIU bookstore will have Ross Gay's books available after the reading,
and Ross will be available to sign any copies.

Tell your students, friends, and colleagues. Tell you librarians and local
grocers. Tell anyone you think might be interested. This is going to be a
great start to a wonderful three days.

We hope to see you all there!! Some info about the featured authors below:

Ross Gay is the author of two collections of poetry, Against Which
(CavanKerry Press, 2006) and Bringing the Shovel Down (University of
Pittsburgh Press, 2011). His poems have appeared in literary journals and
magazines including American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Columbia: A
Journal of Poetry and Art, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry and
Atlanta Review, and in anthologies including From the Fishouse (Persea
Books, 2009). His honors include being a Cave Canem Workshop fellow and a
Bread Loaf Writers Conference Tuition Scholar, and he received a grant from
the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. He received his B.A. from Lafayette
College, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and his Ph.D. in
American Literature from Temple University, and is a basketball coach, an
occasional demolition man and a painter. He has taught poetry, art and
literature at Lafayette College in Easton, PA and Montclair State University
in New Jersey. He now teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana
and the low-residency MFA in poetry program at Drew University.

Jared Yates Sexton is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Georgia
Southern University and serves as Managing Editor of the literary magazine
BULL. His work has appeared in publications like The Southern Humanities
Review, The Emerson Review, PANK, Hobart, NANO Fiction, and many others. He
has been nominated for a pair of Pushcart's, The Million Writer's Award, and
was a finalist for The New American Fiction Prize. His first book, An End To
All Things, is available from Atticus Books.


2013 Little Grassy Literary Festival: Day 2

Thursday, April 11, 2013, is the second day of this year's festival, and
it's full of readings, discussions, and some FREE FOOD!!

Here's the rundown:

11 a.m. – Poetry Panel Discussion:

Ross Gay
Lee Ann Roripaugh
Tyler Mills

2 p.m. – Readings by Lee Ann Roripaugh and Tyler Mills

3:30 p.m. – Book Signing and Reception (FREE FOOD!!)

7:30 p.m. – Reading and Q&A by Peter Ho Davies

All the readings and discussions will take place in John C. Guyon Auditorium,
and the book signing and reception will take place in the first
floor rotunda.

Here's some info for the participants:

Lee Ann Roripaugh is the author of three volumes of poetry: On the Cusp of a
Dangerous Year (Southern Illinois University Press, 2009), Year of the Snake
(Southern Illinois University Press, 2004), and Beyond Heart Mountain
(Penguin Books, 1999). She is Professor of English at University of South
Dakota.

Tyler Mills's debut collection, Tongue Lyre (Southern Illinois University
Press, 2013) won the 2011 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award.
She is currently pursuing a PhD in creative writing at the University of
Illinois-Chicago.

Peter Ho Davies is the author of the novel The Welsh Girl (2007) and the
story collections The Ugliest House in the World (1997) and Equal Love
(2000). The Welsh Girl was 'long-listed' for the Man Booker Prize in 2007.
Davies is now on the faculty of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Little Grassy Literary Festival: Day 3

Friday, April 12, 2013, is the last (but certainly not the least) day of
this year's festival, and it will feature a fiction panel and a reading by
novelist, playwright, and screenwriter LeAnne Howe.

The rundown:

11:00 – Fiction Panel

Peter Ho Davies
Jared Yates Sexton
LeAnne Howe

1:00 – Reading and Q&A by LeAnne Howe

One important change to note. These two events will take place in the 3rd
Floor Rotunda of Morris Library, not the Guyon Auditorium.

Here's LeAnne's bio:

An enrolled member of the Choctaw nation of Oklahoma, LeAnne Howe writes
fiction, creative non-fiction, plays, poetry, and screenplays that primarily
deal with American Indian experiences. Her novels include Miko Kings: An
Indian Baseball Story (2007) and Shell Shaker (2001). Her plays include The
Mascot Opera: A Minuet and Choctalking on Other Realities. She is Director
of Creative Writing and Professor of English and American Indian Studies at
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at ALL these events :)