New Orleans New Writers Literary Festival
seventh annual
New Orleans New Writers Literary Festival
Saturday, March 29, 2014
high school students come together for
author events and celebrating the writing life
Open to current 9th-12th graders.
(8th graders should email [email protected] before registering. )
New Orleans– Lusher Charter High School and New Orleans Center for Creative Arts are collaborating once again to produce the seventh year of a remarkable two-day event for high school students: New Orleans New Writers Literary Festival. The Festival, coordinated by Lusher faculty member Brad Richard and NOCCA faculty member Lara Naughton, draws nearly 150 young writers from the New Orleans area who come together to learn new skills, share ideas and celebrate the writing life. “LitFest is great because it gives high school students from all over the city a hands-on way to interact with different types of literature, like spoken word and screenwriting. We get to experience the diversity of what it means to be a writer and to have fun with words,” said high school student Sophia Parandian.
Day One Thursday March 27: features a reading with poet Richard Siken. The reading, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 6:30 p.m. at NOCCA, 2800 Chartres Street, New Orleans 70117. Siken’s poetry collection Crush is the winner of the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition, judged by poet Louise Glück. Glück says in the forward: “The poems’ power derives from obsession but Richard Siken’s manner is sheer manic improv, with the poet in all the roles: he is the animal trapped in the headlights, paralyzed; he is also the speeding vehicle, the car that doesn’t stop, the mechanism of flight. The book is all high beams: reeling, savage, headlong, insatiable.” A resident of Tucson, AZ, Siken is cofounder and editor of the literary magazine spork, and the recipient of a Literature Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Day Two Saturday March 29: offers high school students a day-long festival of master classes with nationally renowned writers and artists, seminars, food, and sharing their work and ideas. Saturday events will be held from 9:30 AM-4:30 PM at Lusher Charter High School, 5624 Freret Street, New Orleans 70115.
Headlining the Saturday festival will be poet Richard Siken who will offer a master class to all festival participants. After the master class, Siken will also meet with a small group of students to discuss poetry and the writing life. Other session offerings include Screenwriting with Henry Griffin; Spoken Word with Slam Team NOLA; Story Games with Mischa Krilov; Fiction with Maurice Ruffin; Poetry with Carolyn Hembree; Creative Non-Fiction with Adrian Van Young; Comic Art with Kurt Amacker; and Storyslam: Live Storytelling with Laine Kaplan-Levenson. In addition, there will be an open reading by members of the local high school literary scene.
Co-founder Brad Richard says, “As professional writers, we know how important it is to be part of a larger writing community. The same is true for young writers who want to meet other students with similar interests and explore the craft with outstanding artists and mentors. We’re thrilled to offer this opportunity again this year.”