The IMPAC-Connecticut State University
Young Writers Competition
Acclaimed authors to offer community writing workshops at
WestConn
*Public invited to join small study groups May 7 in four literary genres
Date: April 5, 2006
Contact: Robert Taylor or Paul Steinmetz, Office of University Relations
Phone: (203) 837-8486 Fax: (203) 837-8530
E-mail: or
DANBURY, CONN. - Aspiring writers will have a rare opportunity to learn their craft and receive critiques of their work from four nationally acclaimed literary masters during workshops offered to the general community on Sunday, May 7, at Western Connecticut State University.
Registrations are now being accepted for limited space in each of four public workshops in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and screenwriting. The seminars, presented as part of a two-day writing conference on the university's Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury, will feature celebrated authors in each genre:
Fiction: Pete Duval. Duval made a memorable debut on the professional literary scene with his first collection of short stories, "Rear View," winner of the 2003 Katharine Bakeless Nason Prize for Fiction awarded by Middlebury College and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. The collection, also honored with the 2005 Connecticut Book Award for Fiction and two Pushcart Prize nominations, combines personal recollections of his youth in a working-class community in New Bedford, Mass., with wry humor and everyday moments of epiphany offering unexpected insights into the human condition. A resident of Wallingford, Conn., Duval has published his fiction works widely in regional and national literary journals.
Nonfiction: Daniel Asa Rose. Rose's selection as a 2006 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) literary fellow marks the latest chapter in an accomplished career as an actor and author of prize-winning nonfiction and fiction works. His autobiographical 2002 book "Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape from the Holocaust" received the New England Booksellers Discovery Award and was named to the prestigious BookSense 76 List. His fiction works include the novel "Flipping for It" and the short story collection "Small Family with Rooster," which earned an O. Henry Prize and two Pen Fiction Awards. Rose is editor of the literary magazine The Reading Room, arts editor of Forward, and contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, GQ, New York and other publications.
Poetry: Marilyn Nelson. Nelson, a two-time NEA creative writing fellow and author of nine books of poetry published during the past three decades, has served as Poet Laureate of Connecticut since 2001. Two of her collections, "Carver: A Life in Poems" in 2001 and "Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem" in 2004, were selected as Coretta Scott King Honor Books. Nelson has been a National Book Award finalist three times for "Carver," her 1997 book "The Fields of Praise" and her 1990 book "The Homeplace." Other honors include the PEN Winship Award and the 1998 Poets' Prize for "Fields," and the Annisfield-Wolf Award for "Homeplace." She is an emeritus professor of English at the University of Connecticut and director of Soul Mountain Retreat, a writers' colony.
Screenwriting: Hassan Ildari. Ildari, a native of Iran who emigrated to the United States in 1973, directed and wrote the screenplay for the 1991 film "Face of the Enemy," a psychological drama about a fictional ex-CIA agent and hostage in the Middle East who seeks to take revenge on a former captor. Other screenplay credits include "Sharkskin," an urban heist drama in post-production, and "Confessor," a political drama in pre-production about events surrounding the 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile. A former directing fellow at Universal Studios and assistant to Arthur Hiller, Walter Hill and John Landis, he also has written, directed and produced for television and teaches film screenwriting, editing and production at several universities and art schools.
Reservations for all workshops will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, including a $20 fee. The size of the seminars led by Duval, Rose, Nelson and Ildari will be limited to no more than 10 public registrants for each. If a workshop in a given genre is filled, additional registrants may attend a facilitated peer workshop in that genre conducted by a writer from WestConn's Master of Fine Arts in Professional Writing program.
The deadline to register is Saturday, April 15. Sign-up forms are posted at the official conference Web site at http://so-mako.sysoff.ctstateu.edu/AcadAff/cwc.nsf and at www.connecticutreview.com under "Creative Connections."
In addition to the community workshops, creative writing students from the four Connecticut State University (CSU) campuses and outstanding student writers from the state's high schools will participate in conference workshops on Saturday, May 6. The conference also will feature a regional book fair with displays from local book, magazine and newsletter publishers, as well as readings and book signings by WestConn faculty members and other writers.
For more information, contact WestConn Professor of English Dr. John Briggs at (203) 837-9043 or .
VISITOR PARKING ADVISORY: Western Connecticut State University offers several convenient, centrally located parking spaces for visitors to the university's Midtown campus in Danbury. Visitor parking is in the lot next to Old Main and in designated spaces next to University Hall. Parking in the university's White Street garage is restricted to commuter students, faculty and staff from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; visitors are welcome to park in the garage all other times. Visitors who cannot be accommodated in these parking areas are asked to call the University Police Department to make other arrangements. Up-to-date university parking rules and regulations, color-coded campus maps that show parking areas and shuttle bus stops, and shuttle bus schedules are available at www.wcsu.edu/parking. Call the University Police Department at (203) 837-9300 for information about parking rules and regulations.
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