True Lit: Fayetteville Literary Festival 2014

True Lit: Fayetteville’s Literary Festival will be held Wednesday, October 1 through Sunday, October 5 in a variety of venues around Fayetteville. 

The festival organizers are proud to host award winning children’s and young adult author, Jacqueline Woodson as the headliner for the festival this year. Woodson has written 27 titles for children and young adults, from picture books to YA novels including Each Kindness, Beneath the Meth Moon, Feathers, and Miracle’s Boys, the last of which was adapted into a miniseries directed by Spike Lee. Woodson has been awarded three Newbery Honors, a Coretta Scott King Award and 3 Coretta Scott King Honors, 2 National Book Awards, a Caldecott Honor, a Margaret A. Edwards Award and an ALAN Award, both for Lifetime Achievement in YA Literature. Most recently, she was the 2013 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Woodson’s books are often written from an adolescence point of view and deal with the difficulties young people face including gender, race, and class issues. Her characters are relatable to young readers seeking their own discovery of self.

The public is invited to hear Woodson speak at Fayetteville Public Library on Friday, October 3  at 7 p.m. The evening author talk will introduce a full day of literary events on Saturday beginning with author readings, art displays and writing workshops at the library.
 
The festival will kick off with poet Jericho Brown speaking at the University of Arkansas Giffels Auditorium on Wednesday, October 1 at 7pm. Brown is the recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the National Endowment for the Arts. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Nation, The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The Best American Poetry. Brown holds a PhD from the University of Houston, an MFA from the University of New Orleans, and a BA from Dillard University. His first book, Please, won the American Book Award, and his second book, The New Testament, was published by Copper Canyon Press. He is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at Emory University in Atlanta. 

This year’s expanded festival schedule also includes writing workshops facilitated by University of Arkansas MFA in Creative Writing program faculty and students, art displays and music. Two art displays will include professional artists and works of art from area school children. La Strada dell Arte, a collaboration of six local artists, will transform pavement into pastel masterpieces inspired by popular children’s books. The works of art will lead visitors from the Fayetteville square to the library where they can view a collection of student artwork inspired by literature they have read. The Response Wall display is sponsored by Fayetteville Montessori School founder and director, Victoria Butler to encourage children to connect personally with literature.

True Lit is sponsored by the Friends of the Fayetteville Public Library, Fayetteville Montessori School, Fayetteville Public Library, Fayetteville Public Schools, Fayetteville Education Foundation. Partnering organizations and venues also include the University of Arkansas Creative Writing program, Nightbird Books, and the Ozark Literacy Council.The goal of the True Lit festival is to help encourage people to tell their stories. Please visit www.truelitfest.com for updates to the festival schedule. For more information, contact Lolly Greenwood, True Lit organizer at (479) 856-7120.