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This fall, Holy Cross hosted its second annual Literary
Octoberfest. Organized by Christopher Merrill, the William
H.P. Jenks Chair in Contemporary American Letters, the program
features a weeklong series of readings and workshops by some
of the country's most renowned writers. Response to Octoberfest
has been overwhelmingly positive.
For the 1998 season, Merrill decided to vary the standard format of readings
by including two workshop presentations. In addition to giving a reading on Wednesday
evening, Emily Hiestand, senior literary editor of Orion Magazine and
author of Angela
the Upside-Down Girl: And Other Domestic Travels, conducted an afternoon
workshop on nature writing. Janet Holmes' presentation on Friday afternoon
included a workshop as well as a reading. Winner of the Anhinga Prize, she
is the author of The Green Tuxedo and The Physicist
at the Mall.
"The reaction to the workshops was very positive," Merrill said. "The nature
writing workshop and poetry workshop give students a sense of what can be done
with writing, what kind of a career can be
made out of it."
Monday evening's program also varied from the traditional format. This year,
Holy Cross faculty members from the
math and science departments joined guest Kurt Brown in reading
selections from Verse & Universe: Poems About Science and Mathematics. Merrill
was pleased by the outcome. "Everybody in the audience found it to be a thrilling
experience because the faculty members were coming at the poems from a different
perspective . The sense of what a poetry reading
could be significantly broadened."
One of the most popular events of the week
was the poetry reading by Richard Wilbur. Approximately 350 people
filled the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom to hear the two-time Pulitzer
Prize winner
and former Poet Laureate of the United States. Author of Things of this World,
Walking to Sleep, The Mind-Reader, and New and Collected
Poems, Wilbur was available to sign books following the reading.
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