Oklahoma’s Bounty of Talent

kitty pittman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:42:35 +0000

Lunch with Tim was very nice. What do I know about him you might not after our lunch…. He worked in a university library Special Collection, working with sheet music and magic. He attended a writing program at Brown University. Grew up in Midwest City, teaches at Rose State. Found out about being a finalist for the National Book Awards from a Tulsa World reporter (his agent left a voice mail but the reporter beat her to the news). Journalism is still alive. Can Rap but should probably not give up his day job for a music career. Changed to writing young adult novels because he was inspired by the immediate emotion of the younger readers to his first novel Falling Dark, which was written for an adult audience . He writes to explore characterization, language and themes. And brings literary fiction to the young adult reader in a way that doesn’t talk down or dumb down.

Then later in the afternoon I went to the panel discussion with the authors I mentioned in the previous post. Tim Tharp, Bob Burke, Nathan Brown, Anna Myers and illustrator, Mike Wimmer.

Tidbits from them… Burke has written 88 nonfiction books and is working on five more for next year! Myers has won FOUR Oklahoma Book Awards in the Children/ Young Adult category. She’s got a new one coming out in the fall called Time of the Witches, about the Salem witch trials.

Coming out in September

And a new first adult novel that sounds like a lot of fun with some serious on the side. Tharp likes revising. Wimmer is happiest with his first pencil drawing, because the beginning is the best and the ending will always disappoint. And Nathan Brown wants us to escape all the previous scarring of bad poetry teaching and find out it can be understandable and enjoyable. He’s got a new one in the works called My Sideways Heart.

My final comment is something Mike Wimmer said when talking about wanting to inspire and in the course of meeting and talking with people, he discovered two important concepts from successful people. They are the choices they made about what they want to do with their lives and that they picked something they love to do. Something to think about this spring afternoon, choice and passion, and I’m glad I got to visit with people who’s choice and passion bring us art and literature.

Ok Heritage Association, lunch with Oklahoma Voices

kitty pittman — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:45:55 +0000

The Oklahoma Heritage Association started a lunch with an Oklahoma Author program, called Oklahoma Voices. The Association itself has published more than 100 books celebrating Oklahoma history and culture. For ten dollars, or for twenty five which would include an autographed book, you can lunch with an Oklahoma Voice. The first event is a sit down with Peter G. Pierce, author of Baseball in the Cross Timbers: The Story of the Sooner State League, on Feb. 4th.

The next event will be on March 4th, this time with Bob Burke and Gini Moore Campbell, authors of Lee Allan Smith: Oklahoma City’s Best Friend.

And I think the April event will be very intriguing with Larry Lewis discussing Struggles in a New State: The 1910 Journey of the Abernathy Boys as a Framework of the Political Issues and Societal Changes in Oklahoma.

So get yourself signed up and have lunch with an Oklahoma author.

Okie Reads » Bob Burke

Oklahoma’s Bounty of Talent

Ok Heritage Association, lunch with Oklahoma Voices