FSU Center for Creative Writing to Host Fourth Annual Press Festival

FSU Center for Creative Writing to Host Fourth Annual Press Festival

The Frostburg State University Center for Creative Writing, in partnership with the Allegany County Library System, is excited to announce that our fourth annual Western Maryland Small and Regional Press Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 16, from 11:00 am- 4:30 pm, at Main Street, Frostburg.

This annual event brings together editors and publishers with writers and educators of the local literary community. Participating journals and presses are provided with tables inside Frostburg?s Lyric Theater to display books, submission guidelines, and other promotional materials. Panel discussions and roundtable sessions include topics on writing and getting published; teachers and students; blogging and new media publishing; using social media for promotion; and multi-genre craft discussions. The Press Festival is an excellent opportunity for members of the local literary community to meet directly with editors and publishers and learn all about writing and publishing.

Some participants this year include Mammoth Books, CityLit Press, Lines + Stars, Kestrel, Gargoyle Magazine, No Tell Books, and The Broadkill Review.

This year we have expanded the Festival to several partnering locations on Main Street, including Mountain City Traditional Arts, the Frostburg Public Library and the Lyric Theater. Additionally, we are kicking off the Press Festival with a poetry reading by Nancy Krygowski from the Gist Street Reading Series on Friday, Oct. 15, at 5:30 pm, at Main Street Books; a reception for press and journal attendees at the Center for Creative Writing from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm; and a panel discussion on forging a literary community at 7:30 pm.

Leading up to the Small Press Festival, we will feature interviews and information about participating presses and journals on the Center?s website and Wordpress blog. Please see our website at http://www.frostburg.edu/cwcenter/ for more information and a complete list of participants.


Kimberly Brown
AmeriCorps VISTA
Community Outreach Coordinator
Center for Creative Writing
Frostburg State University
Office: 301-687-4340 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 301-687-4340 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: 301-687-3099
http://www.frostburg.edu/cwcenter/

Banned Books Week: a chance to be subversive

Banned Books Week: a chance to be subversive

Read Street is ever-vigilant in exposing the vigilantes who try to ban or challenge library books, so we welcome another Banned Books Week.

The American Library Association sponsors the event each year to highlight the nagging issue. Publishers, authors and others are holding their own events. Random House, for example, has a Facebook page on the issue. The Harford County Library has developed a quiz to test your acceptance of these controversial books. And The Baltimore Sun has an interesting photo gallery of banned or challenged books, including "My Friend Flicka," which made the list because it used the word "bitch" in referring to a female dog.

So enjoy the week, and take this opportunity for a bit of literary subversiveness.

What to Do If Hackers Steal Accounts

What to Do If Hackers Steal Accounts

If your e-mail, Facebook or Twitter account has been broken into and taken over by crooks, here's what you can do to kick them out and regain control over your online life.

Are Dads the Key to Get Boys to Read?

Are Dads the Key to Get Boys to Read?

A new report from publisher Scholastic affirms what many parents and teachers already know viscerally: As kids grow, they read less and spend more time going online and texting.

Celebrate Banned Books Week September 25 – October 2

Celebrate Banned Books Week September 25 – October 2

The American Library Association observes Banned Books Week September 25 – October 2 to celebrate the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. The top ten challenged books in 2009 are listed below followed by the reasons they were challenged.  VOYA reviews fo the young adult challenged books are also included. VOYA supports teens' freedom to read!

ttyl (Internet Girls series) by Lauren Myracle (Amulet/Abrams, 2004/VOYA June 2004).

Nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group, drugs.

Myracle, Lauren. ttyl. Amulet Books/Harry N. Abrams, 2004. 224p. $15.95.  0-8109-4821-4. 3Q 4P M J

Three friends in tenth grade, Angela, Maddie, and Zoe, use instant messaging (IM) to discuss the events and issues in their lives. This novel is written entirely in the IM format and gives the reader a voyeuristic view of high school life in Atlanta. In addition to the usual chatter about outfits, jobs, and homework, the girls face problems with friends and with a lecherous teacher, and they discuss spirituality and family issues. Each girl has a distinctive personality: Zoe is reserved and interested in church, Maddie is outgoing and searches for new experiences and friends, and Angela lies somewhere between them.

Myracle captures the banter and shorthand style of instant messaging, and she successfully conveys personalities and settings through the dialogue, but the format does not allow a complex plot to develop. Instead it is an episodic slice-of-life story. Younger teens will enjoy the novelty of its style, and the names of current television shows, movies, and restaurants scattered throughout the book will make it easy for them to identify with Angela, Maddie, and Zoe. But just like the latest technology, this book will be discarded when the next new thing comes along. Leisure readers should enjoy it before it becomes outdated.-Jenny Ingram.

In ttyl Myracle shows the hardships of three girls' high school lives. As a younger student, I cannot relate to the problems that Angela, Zoe, and Maddie have to endure, and I think that girls in grades eight through eleven or twelve will like this book more. Girls in those grades would be able to more easily connect with Angela, Zoe, or Maddie in at least one aspect of their lives. 3P 3Q-Rebecca Mor...

John E. Taube

jtaube@allconet.org

301-697-7384

Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 in a larger map

IDEO’s vision for the future of the book

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

My6sense review

With all the excitement over the Android release of the My6sense app,
I decided to give it a whirl. It was great as a reader, but unless it
can sync and mark items as read in Google Reader, I can't afford the
time to read them in My6sense and then read them again in Google
Reader.