Tagged: Books

A series of readings of authors affiliated with Spalding University’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing program begins Saturday. The university’s bi-annual Festival of Contemporary Writing is the state’s largest reading series and is an integral part of Spalding’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program residency, which the university hosts every spring and fall. This year’s festival runs through May 25.

(Disclosure: I am a 2004 graduate of Spalding's MFA program.)

In the annual Kentucky Writers' Day program at the Capitol, Governor Steve Beshear inducted poet Frank X Walker as the state's new poet laureate. Walker is the first African American to hold the post, and at 53 years old, the University of Kentucky professor is also the youngest. The Kentucky Arts Council announced Walker's appointment in February.

Our new fiction show Unbound met its Kickstarter funding goal. WFPL launched a campaign on the popular creative project crowdfunding platform last month to raise funds for production costs associated with the new show. On Kickstarter, a project only receives pledged funds if the campaign meets its goal; otherwise, no money is collected from backers. 

Nothing secures a literary legacy like an over-sized personality to match the work. On some level, we want our artists to behave badly, feuding with critics and wearing, perhaps, less clothing than appropriate in public. We want to believe that being a talented, successful writer isn’t just another job, like being a plumber or an accountant—it's a lifestyle, or maybe even a curse.