Last modified: Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Annual IU Writers' Conference to feature nightly public readings
The Indiana University Writers' Conference, now celebrating its 63rd year, will welcome 12 nationally renowned poets and fiction and nonfiction writers to Bloomington June 22-27 for a week-long festival of readings, classes and workshops.
The authors will read from their works Sunday through Thursday evenings, June 22-26. The readings will start at 8 p.m. in Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union and will be followed by a reception with free refreshments in the IMU's University Club. The readings are free and open to the public.
The schedule of evening readings is as follows:
Sunday, June 22: Aimee Bender (fiction) and Marilyn Chin (poetry)
Monday, June 23: Alison Hawthorne Deming (creative nonfiction), A. Loudermilk (poetry) and Achy Obejas (fiction)
Tuesday, June 24: Elizabeth Dewberry (playwriting and prose), Amy Locklin (poetry) and David Wright (prose)
Wednesday, June 25: Kevin Young (poetry) and Clint McCown (fiction)
Thursday, June 26: Brenda Hillman (poetry) and Robert Olen Butler (fiction)
The IU Writers' Conference attracts a staff of nationally prominent writers who are also excellent teachers. Over the years, many distinguished writers have taught at the conference including Gwendolyn Brooks, John Crowe Ransom, Madeleine L'Engle and Raymond Carver. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. has described the IU Writers' Conference as "the most respectable writers' conference that I know of."
Conference days are filled with readings, single presentations on writing and publishing, classes and workshops. This year, poetry workshops will be taught by Marilyn Chin, Brenda Hillman and Kevin Young, the Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry at IU Bloomington. Aimee Bender, Robert Olen Butler and Achy Obejas will teach workshops in fiction. Alison Hawthorne Deming will teach a creative nonfiction workshop.
Registration is required in order to attend classes and workshops. Registration for workshops will continue until June 20 if space is available. Registration for classes will continue until the start of the conference.
The Indiana University Writers' Conference is a non-profit organization that supports creative writing in Indiana, the Midwest and throughout the country. For an application and more information, visit https://www.indiana.edu/~writecon or contact Amy Locklin, director, or Laura Otto, assistant director, at 812-855-1877 or writecon@indiana.edu.
