March 5, 2001

SMU’S 26TH ANNUAL LITERARY FESTIVAL PRESENTS NOTED WRITERS

DALLAS (SMU) -- The 2001 Literary Festival at Southern Methodist University marks the 26th year the student-managed event has brought renowned writers to the campus to unite SMU students, faculty, staff and the Dallas community in a celebration of writing.

This year's literary festival will be March 20 through 24 and will feature readings from poet Anne Waldman and science writer Alan Lightman, among others. Each event will include a 50-minute reading followed by a 10-minute question and answer session. All of the events are free and open to the public. The authors' works are available in the SMU Bookstore. For more information about the 2001 Literary Festival, call Khristine Queja at (214) 768-4466 ext. 5.

Tuesday, March 20

3:30 p.m.
Student Readings in the Varsity Café of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St., will include winners of the 2001 SMU Creative Writing Contest.

8 p.m.
African storytellers John Owhonda and Babatunde Solarin will read their stories in the Varsity Café of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St. Originally from Nigeria, Owhonda draws heavily on his experiences growing up in West Africa for his stories, music and dance presentations. He has written two books, Nigeria: A Nation of Many Peoples and Musa the Mouse. He also has written for periodicals such as Highlights For Children .

Wednesday, March 21

3:30 p.m.
Faculty Readings will be in the Varsity Café of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St., and will include readings by Jack Myers, Vanessa Read, Leslie Richardson and Marshall Terry.

8 p.m.
Novelist Robert Flynn will read in the Varsity Café of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St. He is the author of 12 books, including North to Yesterday, which won awards from the Texas Institute of Letters and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Another of his books, Seasonal Rain , was co-winner of the Texas Literary Festival Award.

Thursday, March 22

3:30 p.m.
Staged Readings, featuring Dallas playwrights Vicki Cheatwood and Reg Platt, will take place in the Varsity Café of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St. Cheatwood is the author of Manicures and Monuments, a comedy-drama about a manicurist volunteering at a nursing home, which won Best New Play, Dallas Critics Forum Award and The Dallas Morning News' Top 10 of 1995.

Platt is the author of two Christmas plays called You'd Better Watch Out and Friendly Jack's Universal Message of Yuletide Love. Platt, also a producer, director and actor, recently had his video, Nos Phonatu, a black-and-white silent film, named a finalist at the USA Film Festival.

8 p.m.
Poets Raul Salinas and Sarah Cortez will read their selections in McCord Auditorium, Dallas Hall, 3225 University Blvd. Austin-based, Salinas has authored two books of poetry: the seminal Chicano literary classic, Un Trip Through the Mind Jail y Otras Excursions and East of the Freeway. His political activism has earned him an international reputation as an eloquent spokesperson for justice.

Cortez, a former Houston-area deputy constable, is the winner of the 1999 PEN Texas Literary Award for her sensual poetry collection about police work, titled How to Undress a Cop. Her second poetry collection is titled Wild Rhythms of Silence.

Friday, March 23

3:30 p.m.
Slam with Anne Waldman, a highly physical performance of Waldman's poetry, will be featured in the Commons of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St.

8 p.m.
Poet Anne Waldman, author of Number Song and Notes on Sitting Beside a Noble Corpse, will read in the O'Donnell Theatre in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. Author of 42 books, Waldman co-founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colo.

Saturday, March 24

8 p.m.
Science writer Alan Lightman and Dallas rare coin dealer James Halperin will read their selections in the O'Donnell Theatre in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd.

Writing on the human side of science, Lightman is the author of Einstein's Dreams, Good Benito and The Diagnosis. Halperin has written The Truth Machine, a national science fiction bestseller, and The First Immortal.