CELEBRATED AUTHORS TO GIVE MASTER CLASSES TO ASPIRING LOUISIANA WRITERS

Wednesday, 31 August 2022 00:00
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Louisiana Book Festival announces schedule for pre-festival event

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Book Festival is excited to announce the faculty for the 2022 writing workshops: Jericho Brown, Robert Olen Butler, Gerard Collins, and Emily Nemens. These prominently published authors include two Pulitzer Prize recipients, an international creative writing instructor, and a recent editor of two distinguished literary journals.

These WordShops – half-day writing workshops on a variety of topics to take place at the State Library of Louisiana in Baton Rouge on Friday, October 28. The courses are designed for people writing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and are appropriate for writers of all levels of experience.

"Louisiana has such a rich literary history, and the WordShops that preceded the annual Louisiana Book Festival are part of that history," said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. "We are excited to announce this exceptional opportunity at the State Library of Louisiana for writers to further develop their craft."

"If you've ever dreamed of seeing your name on the cover of a book or in a periodical, our WordShops offer a rare and intimate opportunity for local aspiring writers of all backgrounds to study with celebrated authors from all over the country – and this year internationally with an author from Canada," said State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. "Louisiana is full of stories and people who write those stories. We hope these opportunities advance our attendees down the path toward becoming contributors to our literary culture."

The classes, taught by these award-winning and bestselling professional authors, will cover a wide range of topics for honing the writers’ craft, including strategies for generative revision, the usefulness of writer fear as a tool, and the fundamentals of and expanding of the creative process.

The WordShop schedule for Friday, October 28, 2022, include two concurrent sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon:

·       9 a.m. – Noon

o   Writing Through Your Fears, Regardless  presented by Gerard Collins

o   After the Draft: Revising, Editing, and Publishing Your Work – presented by Emily Nemens

·       1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

o   Jumpstart Your Engines Poetry Workshop – presented by Jericho Brown

o   After Craft: The Process of Writing Fiction – presented by Robert Olen Butler

Full WordShop descriptions as well as short author biographies can be found in the attached document and on the Louisiana Book Festival WordShops webpage.

Registration for each WordShop is $50; for a person attending two WordShops, the cost is $90. Space is limited. Registration and payment are due by October 24. After that date, registrations will be accepted only as space allows.

To register, call 225-219-9503 or visit the WordShops webpage.

Each of the instructors will be featured at the Louisiana Book Festival with their latest works. For more information on the 2022 Louisiana Book Festival, visit www.LouisianaBookFestival.org and follow us on Facebook.

The Louisiana Center for the Book, established in the State Library of Louisiana in 1994 for the purpose of stimulating public interest in reading, books, literacy, and libraries and celebrating Louisinaa's rich literary heritage, is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Barry Landry
Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism
225-342-7009
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