Hello All,


During the week of April 12, the Writing Department will host a Spring Writing Festival, which we hope to make an annual event. Come by during the week to help us "Celebrate the written word"! The events below are free and open to the public. Those of you who need to make up some residency time can use these events for that purpose.

There also will be a poetry workshop on Monday evening with David Lehman and a fiction workshop on Tuesday evening with Paola Corso--these workshops are open to MFA students, grads, and mentors! Let me know if you'd like to attend the workshops.

I am providing links here for bio info on some of the participants:

Russ Baker: http://russbaker.com/
David Lehman: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/40
Jason Leopold: http://pubrecord.org/about/jason-leopold/
Paola Corso: http://www.paolacorso.com/

Monday, April 12
David Lehman: poet and editor of the annual Best American Poetry series of anthologies

Reading: 6:30 pm, Warner Lobby (Lehman will read from his poetry)


Tuesday, April 13

Paola Corso: author of Giovanna’s 86 Circles (stories), poet, playwright, grant writer, journalist, fiction and poetry editor for an upcoming issue of the International Feminist Journal of Politics

Reading: 6:30 pm, Warner Lobby (Corso will read from her fiction)

Wednesday, April 14

Student Readings: Undergraduates read from their work.


Thursday, April 15

The Future of News

Panel: 4:00 pm, Student Center Theatre

A round table discussion with news professionals on convergence journalism and new media formats. Who will pay? In the future will infotainment and rumor mongering, bloggy foggy opinions or real news prevail? What will be the role of journalism in the next decade? Led by John Briggs and Elizabeth Cohen.

Panel of News Professionals:
Russ Baker, national investigative journalist
Jason Leopold, editor, The Public Record online news site
Paul Steinmetz, Director of Western's University Relations
Keith Whamond, on line editor, Danbury News Times
Art Cummings, executive editor, Danbury News Times
Vivian Martin, professor of journalism, Central Connecticut State University


Student journalists:
Josh Durkin, intern and staff writer, The Public Record
Ray Storez, intern and staff writer, The Public Record
Jesse Foley, editor in chief, The Echo


Friday, April 16

Magazine Writing

Panel: 1:00 pm, Student Center Theatre

James Lomuscio (editor and writer), Charlie Monagan (editor of Connecticut Magazine), and Geoff Morris (editor of five local magazines, including Fairfield Magazine) will regale the audience with stories of the magazine writer’s life and will discuss the future of magazine publishing.