Festival welcomes Chabon, Martel and Community
Novelist , Life of Pi author , and children鈥檚 author are among the constellation of novelists, poets, playwrights, illustrators, screenwriters, memoirists, graphic artists and others featured at the 2008 , held at Calvin College Thursday through Saturday, April 17鈥19.聽
Award-Winning Authors
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Chabon, Man Booker Prize-winning Martel and multiple Newbery Award-winning Paterson are good representatives of the depth of quality of the festival roster, said director Shelly LeMahieu Dunn. What makes the biennial event special, however, is the community that forms when the and the attendees鈥69 plus 1800 this year鈥攇ather together.
The Festival Oasis
鈥淢any people talk about the festival as an oasis, and I think that鈥檚 a really appropriate metaphor,鈥 said LeMahieu Dunn. 鈥淲riting and reading are such solitary activities, and the festival gives people a place to encourage one another and to reflect a little bit about what it means to be a Christian, a writer, a reader, and how to do those things faithfully.鈥
This year鈥檚 festival will welcome authors from every field of written endeavor. will feature novelists Chabon, Martel, Paterson and and religious authors and . The event will also feature , dramatic performances, concerts by and and even a poetry slam.
鈥淲e really do have something for everyone,鈥 said Le Mahieu Dunn.
Authors Connect Off-Campus and On
Festival 2008 organizers have also created multiple opportunities for featured authors to spread the festival vibe both on and off campus, as various authors meet with area high school students, partner with a local gallery, connect with the staff of the college鈥檚 service-learning center, and meet with Calvin Russian literature, graphic novel and creative writing classes.
聽鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to share the wealth as much as we can, both in the Calvin community and the Grand Rapids community,鈥 said LeMahieu Dunn.
The Women of Lockerbie
One such on-campus collaboration partners festival with the , which will give several performances of Deborah Brevoort鈥檚 play . The play, structured as a Greek tragedy, is loosely based on the true story of the women of Lockerbie, Scotland, who retrieved and washed the clothes of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 and returned them to their families.
Brevoort will speak following each performance of the play and at a session titled 鈥淲riting The Women of Lockerbie, from Inspiration to Completion,鈥 at 11 a.m., Saturday, April 19 in the Gezon Auditorium. 鈥淪he is a representative of what it鈥檚 like to be a writer in the face of the ultimate evil of terrorism鈥攏ot only terrorism but the fear of terrorism. She鈥檚 dealing with that in her work,鈥 said Sandberg. 鈥淪he has a lot to say.鈥
"Beauty of the Spirit" at Center Art Gallery
Another vital on-campus collaboration is , an exhibition of the work of preeminent African-American artist and illustrator鈥攁nd festival speaker鈥. The exhibition, which runs in the from March 17 through April 19, showcases paintings from five of Nelson鈥檚 books, including the Caldecott Honor-winning Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom and We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. The gallery will also host Nelson at a book signing and exhibition reception from 6:30鈥8 p.m. on Friday, April 18 in the lower Gezon lobby. (Books will be available for purchase.)
鈥淭his exhibition benefits the festival and the gallery as well as the people who visit campus,鈥 said Calvin director of exhibitions Joel Zwart. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to hear someone talk about his work and another to actually see it. We鈥檙e giving people the opportunity to do both.鈥
Festival Hospitality
Key to the festival community is the hospitality that is part of the festival mission, said LeMahieu Dunn. 鈥淔or many people who come to the festival, this is their only experience with Calvin College.鈥 Key to the hospitality is the , the festival home base. 鈥淭he festival is in every sense a departmental event, and everyone there contributes to its success,鈥 she said.
Student Involvement Key
Alongside with the Calvin professors and alumni who will speak at this year鈥檚 event, LeMahieu Dunn singled out the 35-member student committee that handles so much of the festival logistics: maintaining the desk, driving the shuttle buses and shepherding authors, among other chores.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a profoundly influential experience for them, but also for the authors and visitors who meet them,鈥 said LeMahieu Dunn. 鈥淰isitors to Calvin who don鈥檛 know about the college or what it means to be Reformed, meet all of these bright, engaged students. At the last festival, one of our authors said this to me about our students: 鈥溾橳hey give me hope for the future.鈥欌
For more information, including speaker bios and a schedule of events, visit the Festival of Faith and Writing .