Writers' fest features readings, workshops
11/12/2005A reading by author Steve Almond Thursday evening at Bowling Green State University will open the fifth annual Winter Wheat Festival of Writing, a four-day event that will include panel discussions and dozens of workshops for writers.
The festival is sponsored by Mid-American Review, a literary journal published at BGSU. All events are free, although donations are accepted.
Almond, whose reading is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater, is the author of the road-trip nonfiction work Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America.
Other featured readers throughout the festival include fiction writers Edith Pearlman and Tom Noyes and poets George Looney, Aimee Nezhukamatathil, and Philip Memmer.
Organizers say the festival is designed for writers of all abilities, experience, and genres. Running Thursday through Sunday, the busiest day will be Saturday with workshops from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and readings, dinner, and open mic until
9:30 p.m.
Most events take place in the student union except for those on Sunday, which will be in East Hall.
The "winter wheat" of the festival's name relates to its goals, according to festival coordinator Karen Craigo, a published poet and editor of Mid-American Review. "Farmers plant winter wheat this time of year, and it's the first green thing you see in the spring. The idea is that we plant ideas to get through the long winter," Craigo said in a statement.
For registration and event information contact Abigail Cloud at clouda@bgnet.bgsu.edu, or check www.bgsu.edu/midamericanreview. Onsite registration starts at 8 a.m. Saturday, but pre-registration is encouraged because most sessions fill ahead of time.