Looking at a little down home literature

More great events at Metro, Native American Festival

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Oklahoma Writers honor Joyce Carol Thomas

I just received an invitation to attend the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame Banquet honoring Joyce Carol Thomas. All part of a larger program, Oklahoma Landscapes that will  promote Oklahoma Authors. Joyce Carol Thomas is a wonderful choice.  Your young children will love her book “I Have Heard of a Land“, a celebration of Oklahoma’s African American pioneers. All of her children’s books are beautifully written and  illustrated. Young Adults should read Marked by Fire.  You can see the depth of her talents after reading both volumes.

The University of Tennesse has her on their Tennessee Author page but I beg to differ, she is truly one of Oklahoma’s finest authors. So come on out on October 6th to celebrate her and her works. For registration details go to http://poetsandwriters.okstate.edu/events/index.html

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Literati Indie Book Fair

Literati Indie Book Fair presented by rampage artists and individual artists of oklahoma

IAO Gallery     Literati Indie Book Fair Saturday, June 27 12:00PM-8:00PM 811 N. Broadway Oklahoma City, OK 73102 405-232-6060   Calling all readers! Skip the chain stores and go straight to the source!   Rampage Artists and Wayward Poets are teaming up for the inaugural Literati Indie Book Fair to be held at the IAO Gallery at 811 N. Broadway. The book fair will feature state and regional authors across all genres from experimental fiction, poetry, children’s books to graphic novels. There will also be readings and music performances throughout the day and the Soapbox will give slam poets a place to spout truths to the passing crowds.                      There is an open call for authors, publishers and indie book stores to rent out booth space for $20, where they can sell their books and keep 100% of the profit. There is also a call for narrative and comic book-styled artwork. Visual art submission is free with 10% of the sale going to Rampage Artists and Wayward Poets.   Rampage Artists is an artists cooperative featuring an array of unique voices driven to innovate in their respective fields. Founded in 2007, the purpose of Rampage Artists extends beyond promoting its primary players to offering opportunities for other emerging fashion designers, artists, dancers, musicians and writers to express themselves and further their careers.   Wayward Poets is a poetry non-profit group under the umbrella of the Individual Artists of Oklahoma founded in 1998 when a group of despondent poets wandered the streets aimlessly reading at each other’s houses after their venue closed. Soon after, Galileo’s Bar and Grill in the Paseo opened their doors, becoming The Home for Wayward Poets hosting open-mic readings and poetry slams on Wednesdays for over 10 years. With the help of IAO, the Wayward Poets publish books and spoken word CDs, and also is a proud sponsor of Oklahoma City’s delegation to the National Poetry Slam each year. The members of Wayward Poets continue making the huge effort to cultivate and promote both aspiring and established writers, as well as bringing further regional and national literary attention to Oklahoma poets and writers of all genres.   Literati is a fundraiser for Rampage Artists and Wayward Poets, enabling the organization and promotion of future events locally and nationwide, as well as offering tour support to Oklahoma’s alternative voices.   Register at www.skiptheopeningact.com. For more information, visit www.iaogallery.org.

I think their announcement pretty much says it all. Support your Indie Booksellers! And a visit to IAO will be an added plus.

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Mega book signing of Western Writers right here in OKC

 Sounds like  fun.

Additional details from the folks at the Museum:

The books will be available for purchase through The Museum Store, but the event will take place inside the magnificent Sam Noble Special Events Center. Guests are encouraged to make a full evening of their visit by making dinner reservations at the Museum restaurant, Dining on Persimmon Hill. Reservations for the special evening buffet are requested and can be made by calling (405) 478-2250, Ext. 281. (Buffet must be purchased separately.)

Books may be pre-purchased through The Museum Store by calling (405) 478-2250, Ext. 268.  I think you can get books at the event also.

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Literary news

The nationally renowned Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference is inviting all non-fiction writers and those who appreciate the non-fiction craft to its annual conference held in the Dallas area. This is one of the country’s finest literary conferences. Find out more by visiting Oklahoma Department of Libraries’ Mayborn conference page

I have only heard good things about this conference. All writers of nonfiction should find their way down to Grapevine.

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Giddiup to Metropolitan Downtown June 15th

 

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Eight Months with Young Ari

Young Bill Young here. I’ll be your guest blogger for the next couple of days while Kitty is out of town. First up: Oklahoma author CJ Cherryh’s latest sci-fi triumph, Regenesis. (Yes, I know CJ has moved to cooler climes, but she was raised here, taught school here, and wrote here for many years. We still claim her. Who wouldn’t?)

Regenesis is the long-awaited sequal to the Hugo Award-winning Cyteen—and yes, you do need to read Cyteen before tackling Regenesis, despite what some reviewers say. It took more than two decades for the sequel to see light, and Cherryh dedicates the book to Daw Books publisher Betsy Woolheim’s  “determination.”

Cherryh’s Union/Aliance universe, the setting for Regenesis, is rich and complex, and I’ll let you follow this link to find out more about it.

When Regenesis opens, Arianne (Ari) Emory is 18 years old, and heir to the Reseune company which operates on the planet Cyteen, headquarters for the Union government.  She is the clone of the original Arianne—a brilliant, but morally suspect, scientist whose genius has allowed Union’s population to grow (through cloning), giving it an advantage over its Earth and Alliance foes. Following the murder of the original Ari, Emory is cloned. Much of Cyteen focuses on the effort by Reseune personnel to make sure young Ari turns out as brilliant as her predecessor. This leads to cruel familial separations so that young Ari has the same traumatic experiences as her “parent,” but it ultimately makes Young Ari very different from the original: Old Ari doesn’t trust. Young Ari wants desperately to trust. Old Ari has no friends. Young Ari has several friends. Old Ari doesn’t (or can’t) love. Young Ari *does* love.

Where Cyteen was epic in scope, Regenesis is more intimate, taking place in the space of only eight months. But it is an eight-month period filled with political and psychological suspense as the young genius works to keep herself alive, solve her parent’s murder, protect Reseune and Union interests, and protect those she loves.

While telling the story, Cherryh weaves in the big issues that humans deal with: the need for development versus the need to respect nature; the meaning of identity; the need for self preservation versus the need to trust; and (especially in a post 911 world) the rights of the individual versus the need to stay alive and protect a way of life.

Cherryh doesn’t shy away from the big issues. (Why would you write science fiction if you were timid?) But she knows how to tell a story, too, and how to make you care about the characters (both born and cloned) that populate Regenesis.

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Western Heritage Literary Awards, from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Go West

On April 18th, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum announced their 48th annual Western Heritage Awards. Literary awards are given in seven categories; Western novel, nonfiction, art, photography,juvenile, magazine article and poetry. For more information on all the awards there is an article in the Spring 2009 Persimmon Hill, the museum’s magazine. 

Outstanding Western Novel went to Jackalope Dreams. (I just ordered a copy for the library, the reviews and excerpts are very convincing) 

Book description straight from the publisher, University of Nebraska Press (buy regionally).

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2009 Edgar® Awards

Tonight at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, there’s the 63rd Annual Edgar®Award banquet. Wow, James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton are the 2009 Grand Masters. I just searched twitter and can’t find anyone giving out the winners. Maybe they’re still eating dinner.

Here’s the nominees. http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

My predictions, Best Novel, Blue Heaven by C.J. Box (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

and someone remembers to twitter the winners we’ll know who got these awards.

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Author panel two, Jordan, Crystal, Mel and Charles.

Second author panel at the Oklahoma Library Association meeting included Jordan Dane, Crystal Inman, Charles Sasser and Mel Odom.

Interesting and some little know facts about these authors: Jordan and Charles like kayaking, but Jordan should probably not go in the same boat as her husband.  A boat is just like a car, there can be way too many back seat drivers. Mel has written over 140 books, and Charles has 50 published books and around 3,000 articles to his credit, they both think sleeping is way overrated.  Crystal writes steamy romance besides having a day job in a library. Who says librarians are boring.

Sasser has been influenced by Hemingway and Steinbeck. He is a real life action character, no couch potato here. Inman loves romance, and that’s what she reads and writes. Dane grew up with historical westerns and packs action into all her books as a result. Dane and Inman don’t plot first, just go for it.  And Mr. Odom “grew up on junk”, thinks  Robert Parker is the stuff and admires the storytelling ability of Louis L’Amour.

New projects for these folks include: Sasser is working on a  story about Iraq, None Left Behind, a science fiction story called Sanctuary and a book on predator drones used in battlefields. Crystal just finished the last one of the Elemental Guardian Series, available through Amazon’s Fictionwise ebooks. Jordan Dane is working on the third book in the Sweet Justice series. And of course Mel has just a ton of new projects underway; a new Rogue Angel (Archer pseud.), a Shadowrun novel, and something very new in the interactive fiction category.    

Very fun, interesting folks with lots in store for us in the future.

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