• Alumni
• Careers
• FAQ
• Feedback
• Media
• Calendar
• Apply Online

1 - 3 of 3

Northwood University hosting LitFest 2009 with poets, authors and pie

Published on 10/6/2009 12:34:01 PM
A scholar with a new book about the sources of everyday happiness, two award-winning poets with books in Spanish and English and one of the nation's top performance poets are coming to Northwood University Oct. 20th to participate in LitFest 2009: Eat Pie and Poetry.

CEDAR HILL – A scholar with a new book about the sources of everyday happiness, two award-winning poets with books in Spanish and English and one of the nation's top performance poets are coming to Northwood University Oct. 20th to participate in LitFest 2009: Eat Pie and Poetry. The event is free, and co-sponsored by Northwood and WordSpace, a Dallas-based organization dedicated to the promotion and presentation of imaginative writing.

"Over the years, the Northwood LitFest has brought many excellent writers to the campus, including nationally recognized poet Isabel Nathaniel and award-winning writer Ben Fountain recently featured in Malcolm Gladwell's essay on genius in The New Yorker," said LitFest chair and Northwood professor Martha Heimberg. "We always have great attendance -- and students love the performance poets and fiction writers."

Leading off the sixth annual literary festival is Dr. Willard Spiegelman, reading in Northwood's chapel at 11 a.m. Oct. 20. Dr. Spiegelman, the Duwain E. Hughes Jr. Distinguished Professor of English at Southern Methodist University, has written Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness, published this spring by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Spiegel will read from his new work, which seeks to define "real Happiness" and examines the possibilities for achieving it without recourse to the "Happiness industries" – religion and pharmacology. Dr. Spiegelman, who also is the editor of SMU's Southwest Review literary quarterly – explores seven activities that lead to a sense of well-being – dancing, reading, walking, looking listening, swimming and writing.

Readings begin at 7 p.m. Oct. 20 in Lambert Commons, at 1114 W. FM 1382, with free cobbler, root beer, tea and coffee. Readers include:

Susan Briante, author of Pioneers in the Study of Motion (Ahsahta Press, 2007). Her recent poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Court Green and POOL. She has received award from the Atlantic Monthly, MacDowell Colony, and the Academy of American poets. She is currently translating the work of Uruguayan writer Marosa di Giorgio, as well as writing about industrial ruins and abandoned buildings in American cities. Dr. Briante's degrees are from Florida International University and the University of Texas. She is an assistant professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Farid Matuk, a native of Peru, is the author of Is It the King (Effing, 2006). His poems have appeared in Cannibal, Painted Bride Quarterly, Lungfull, OPoss, and Barrelhouse, among others. Reviews and essays on poetics are forth coming from XCP/Cross Cultural Poetics and Sentence. Matuk is on the board of WordSpace, and teaches literature and English at Greenhill Prep School in Dallas.

Rockbaby is a performance poet, comedian and the coach of the Dallas Slam Poetry Team. A veteran of the war in Iraq, Rockbaby has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, and performance venues throughout the country. He hosts the Dallas Poetry Slam, an open mike for poets held every Friday night at various locations in the metroplex.

About Northwood University
Northwood University is committed to the most personal attention to prepare students for success in their careers and in their communities; it promotes critical thinking skills and personal effectiveness, and the importance of ethics, individual freedom and responsibility.

Private, nonprofit and accredited, Northwood University specializes in managerial and entrepreneurial education at three full-service, residential campuses located in Southern Florida, mid-Michigan and Northern Texas. Adult Degree Programs are available in eight states with many course delivery options including online. The DeVos Graduate School offers full-time, evening and industry specific master's degree programs for entrepreneurs and executives in Michigan, Texas and Switzerland. The Alden B. Dow Creativity Center on the Midland, Michigan, campus specializes in creative thinking and innovation development. International education is offered through terms abroad and in Program Centers in Switzerland, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bahrain. Northwood University also operates the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Maine.

50 Years of Enterprise and Ethics
Northwood University is marking its 50-year anniversary. Founded in 1959, Northwood has grown to a national and international presence and is an influential advocate for free enterprise. Celebrations are planned across the country and around the world to commemorate the vision and success of Northwood University's founders, Drs. R. Gary Stauffer and Arthur Turner.