Reposted - January 12, 2012

Aspiring Writers to Learn From Professionals at Eureka College Literary Festival

Guest authors to hold workshops, readings and book-signings

Aspiring writers high school age and older will learn about several genres of writing at a literary festival at Eureka College Feb. 24-25. Authors working in poetry, fiction and comedy will lead workshops and hold readings and book-signings.

The writers are poet laureate of North Carolina Cathy Smith Bowers, short story writer Eric Freeze and comedy writer Dan McCoy.

Admission for the two-day event is $50 and includes author readings, book-signings and receptions beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; workshops beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday; and lunch on Saturday.

Admission for separate events is $10 for readings and book-signings by Smith Bowers and Freeze at 7:30 p.m. Friday; $10 for readings and book-signings by Smith Bowers, Freeze and McCoy at 7:30 pm Saturday; and $10 for lunch Saturday. The event admission is free for Eureka College faculty, staff, and students.

“The Eureka College English Department is very pleased to host three writers of tremendous skill and accomplishment,” said Zeke Jarvis, assistant professor of creative writing. “Anyone attending the festival will quickly recognize the high quality of writing and the genuine warmth and generosity of all three writers,” Jarvis said.

For more information or to register, contact English professor Kathy Whitson at (309) 467- 6335 or kwhitson@eureka.edu.

Cathy Smith Bowers of Tryon, N.C., will lead workshops on poetry. She is the author of five books of poetry: “The Love That Ended Yesterday in Texas,” which is the inaugural winner of the Texas Tech University Press First Book Competition; “Traveling in Time of Danger;” “A Book of Minutes;” “The Candle I Hold Up to See You;” and “Like Shining From Shook Foil.” She teaches at The Haden Institute, Flat Rock, N.C.; Queens University, Charlotte, N.C., and Wofford College, Spartanburg, S.C. Her poems about family and loss have appeared in The Atlantic, The Georgia Review, Poetry, The Southern Review and Ploughshares. She received the 1990 General Electric Award for Younger Writers, Queens University’s 2002 J.B. Fuqua Distinguished Educator Award and the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society in 2006 and 2007.

Eric Freeze of Crawfordsville, Ind., will lead fiction workshops. He received a Canada Council for the Arts grant last year to write a novel set in New Brunswick, Canada. His short story collection titled “Dominant Traits” was published recently by Oberon Press. His stories, translations and creative nonfiction have appeared in a variety of periodicals, including Boston Review, The Southern Review, Tampa Review and The Normal School. He teaches creative writing and American literature at Wabash College, Wabash, Ind. He formerly taught at Eureka College.

Dan McCoy of Brooklyn will lead workshops on comedy writing. He is a writer for the Emmy-winning news satire program “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” He created the Web series “9 AM Meeting,” which won the Best Animation Award and MTV development deal at the 2010 New York TV Festival. His freelance work has appeared on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” Slate, Gawker, Cinemax and National Public Radio's “Morning Edition.” He grew up in Eureka, where his parents were faculty members at Eureka College.

The festival also will include recognition of the winners of the college’s Visionaries in Literature: Young Poets’ Awards. The Eureka College chapter of Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society received a grant from the Sigma Tau Delta national office to support the competition, which is open to Illinois high school sophomores, juniors and seniors and junior college students.

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Contact:

Michele Lehman

Media Relations Coordinator

mlehman@eureka.edu

(309) 467-6318

Check out the full schedule >


Cathy Smith Bowers

Click to read Ms. Bowers >


Eric Freeze

Learn more about Professor Freeze >


Dan McCoy

Watch "9 AM Meeting" >

Check Out "The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart" >