Montevallo Literary Festival 2011 By Carrie Busby April 15, 2011, is not only the dreaded deadline for filing income taxes this year. This date also marks the anticipated ninth annual Montevallo Literary Festival. The University hosts this literary event each year on campus. According to the Assistant Director of the festival, Assistant Professor of English Bryn Chancellor, the MLF
The Tower Arts Magazine By Evan Patton
The University of Montevallo’s The Tower is a student-written and student-edited magazine that exhibits the prime creativity of students from all majors. Originally named the Red Brick Review, the magazine nourishes the roots of a liberal arts education with the soil of local publication. The Tower is funded by the Student Government Association and advised by Jim Murphy, Chair and Associate Professor of English. It is being edited this year by Courtney Bennett, a senior English major. Submissions are open to all students, save for the graces of the Editor. Ms. Bennett spoke about her aspirations for the 2011 edition. “The Tower is a way for students to express their creativity, whether literary or visual. This year’s Tower will be an opportunity for students to shine.” Ms. Bennett hopes for many art submissions this year and encourages submissions by students from outside of their fortes. The Tower is expected to be released near the end of spring, as a rather appropriate creative blossom during April or May.
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preserves a responsibility to a “mission to celebrate the love of literature and remind everyone that it’s an accessible, joyous part of our everyday lives.” Faculty, students, and members of the community enjoy the poetry and prose readings, as well as writing workshops scheduled throughout the day. According to Dr. Lee Rozelle, “The Montevallo Literary Festival is a great event because you have acclaimed authors in small groups, workshops, and informal settings with our own students,” and “that level of interaction means so much more than sitting in a huge auditorium listening to the author read.” Professor Chancellor says there is no cost to attend the readings, and the University “charge[s] nominal fees for lunch and dinner at the festival and for the
master classes.” For Montevallo, this event provides an arena where readers and writers connect to commemorate their passion for language, creativity, and pedagogy. Professor Chancellor announces that there is “a terrific lineup of writers this year: Peter Guralnick (prose), Greg Williamson (poetry), T. J. Beitelman (poetry and pedagogy), as well as A. M. Garner, Toni Jensen, Carrie Jerrell, Matthew Pitt, Jorge Sánchez, and Elizabeth Wetmore.” What better way is there to ring in the renewing season of spring than with a renewal of mind and spirit through literary reflection and accord? Visit the University of Montevallo website at www. montevallo.edu/english/mlf/ for more information on the upcoming festival schedule and registration information.
The Jeremy Lespi Poetry Fellowship
sponsored by the Montevallo Literary Festival This marks the fourth year that the Montevallo Literary Festival will honor student poetry with the Jeremy Lespi Poetry Fellowship. Recipients of the Fellowship give a reading of their work Quinn White, 2010 Jeremy Lespi Fellow at the opening of the Festival and get to participate in all workshops, where they have the opportunity to work closely with a practicing writer. The Fellowship was established through generous donations from English alumni and faculty in memory of B.A. and M.A. graduate, Jeremy Lespi. A student of wide interests,
Jeremy worked as a tutor in the Harbert Writing Center, and was among the early UM cohorts to participate in the Undergraduate Research Program. After graduating from UM, Jeremy earned his PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2004. He taught in France for several semesters, and earned a Certificate in French Language Studies at the Universite de Bourgogne in Dijon. He later taught classes at the University of Alabama, where he was a beloved teacher. Alumni and faculty who knew Jeremy remember his deep and abiding passion for poetry, and this passion serves as the inspiration for the Fellowship. Our past winners have been Treasure IngelsThompson, Amanda Hosey, and Quinn White. If you would like to donate to the Fellowship, please mark your donation to the Montevallo Literary Festival as a gift in memory of Jeremy Lespi. For any inquiries, please contact Dr. Samantha Webb at 205. 665.6426 or webbs@montevallo.edu.