2008 Woodie Awards
Bookfair hosts professors
Tanya Ludlow
Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News
The Southern Festival of Books was held in Nashville, Oct. 12 to Oct. 14.
The festival, organized by Humanities Tennessee, a nonprofit organization that supports the study of community, history, life, languages and literature.
The festival has been held annually in Nashville during the second full weekend of October since 1989.
The festival hosts 200 authors annually for readings, panel discussions and book signings. Authors in a number of genres from fiction, history, poetry and mystery, to cooking and children's literature spoke at the event.
Blas Falconer, assistant professor of creative writing and poetry at Austin Peay State University, read from his book of poetry "A Question of Gravity and Light" in the Capitol Library during the festival.
Because the theme of the festival this year was landscapes, Falconer selected poems that in some way deal with places, such as "Dead Reckoning," a poem inspired by a small island near his homeland of Puerto Rico.
He also read "Letters from the Cumberland," poems interspersed throughout his book and inspired by his move to Tennessee.
After his reading, he fielded questions about his poems and the creative process from the audience.
"Every time I begin to write a poem it's like I'm doing it for the first time," Falconer said.
Dwonna Goldstone, assistant professor of African-American and African literature at APSU, also read from her book, "Integrating the Forty Acres: The Fifty-Year Struggle for Racial Equality at the University of Texas".
The excerpt she read dealt with a black student named Barbara Smith who was removed as the lead of an opera because of her race. Goldstone said that although the University of Texas educational system was officially integrated, black students were marginalized in other aspects.
"It never integrated them as part of the community of the university," Goldstone said.
Rebecca Forehand, a senior Spanish major at APSU, said that the festival was a great way for authors to generate interest and get publicity for their books. Forehand's father, Thomas Forehand Jr., author of "Robert E. Lee's Lighter Side: The Marble Man's Sense of Humor," performed a monologue as Lee, during Lee's years as a professor at Washington College.
"It's an amazing experience. He's been wanting to perform for a couple of years, and he got the go ahead this year," Forehand said. In celebrating books and their authors, organizers of the event hope to bring renewed interest to literature in all its forms. Bill Brown, who hosted Falconer's poetry reading panel, was concerned at what he sees is a lagging interest in literature.
"Less and less in this country do we have organizations that celebrate the spoken and written word," said Brown.
The festival, organized by Humanities Tennessee, a nonprofit organization that supports the study of community, history, life, languages and literature.
The festival has been held annually in Nashville during the second full weekend of October since 1989.
The festival hosts 200 authors annually for readings, panel discussions and book signings. Authors in a number of genres from fiction, history, poetry and mystery, to cooking and children's literature spoke at the event.
Blas Falconer, assistant professor of creative writing and poetry at Austin Peay State University, read from his book of poetry "A Question of Gravity and Light" in the Capitol Library during the festival.
Because the theme of the festival this year was landscapes, Falconer selected poems that in some way deal with places, such as "Dead Reckoning," a poem inspired by a small island near his homeland of Puerto Rico.
He also read "Letters from the Cumberland," poems interspersed throughout his book and inspired by his move to Tennessee.
After his reading, he fielded questions about his poems and the creative process from the audience.
"Every time I begin to write a poem it's like I'm doing it for the first time," Falconer said.
Dwonna Goldstone, assistant professor of African-American and African literature at APSU, also read from her book, "Integrating the Forty Acres: The Fifty-Year Struggle for Racial Equality at the University of Texas".
The excerpt she read dealt with a black student named Barbara Smith who was removed as the lead of an opera because of her race. Goldstone said that although the University of Texas educational system was officially integrated, black students were marginalized in other aspects.
"It never integrated them as part of the community of the university," Goldstone said.
Rebecca Forehand, a senior Spanish major at APSU, said that the festival was a great way for authors to generate interest and get publicity for their books. Forehand's father, Thomas Forehand Jr., author of "Robert E. Lee's Lighter Side: The Marble Man's Sense of Humor," performed a monologue as Lee, during Lee's years as a professor at Washington College.
"It's an amazing experience. He's been wanting to perform for a couple of years, and he got the go ahead this year," Forehand said. In celebrating books and their authors, organizers of the event hope to bring renewed interest to literature in all its forms. Bill Brown, who hosted Falconer's poetry reading panel, was concerned at what he sees is a lagging interest in literature.
"Less and less in this country do we have organizations that celebrate the spoken and written word," said Brown.
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