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Literary connections
CSM series designed to inspire and provide access to writers
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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Wayne Karlin, will read and discuss his work, "Wandering Souls," at the first installment in CSM's Connections series on March 5 at the Leonardtown campus.
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Connecting established and emerging authors with the community has been the goal of the College of Southern Maryland's Connections series since it began 20 years ago.
The three-part spring series will kick off this year on March 5 with author and CSM Professor Wayne Karlin. U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, a community college professor in California, will be featured April 2. The series will end with the Connections literary magazine publication reading on April 30.
CSM's Neal Dwyer, a literature and languages professor and a coordinator of the college's Connections programs and literary magazine, views the college's literary series as an opportunity to connect and inspire people who may not realize that they have an interest, or talent, in the arts. This is accomplished not only through the writers who are featured as guest speakers each semester but also through the college's twice-yearly literary magazine that features the poetry, stories, artwork and photography of Southern Maryland residents.
Since it began in 1990, Connections has featured National Book Award winners Tim O'Brien and Robert Stone, Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Yusef Komunyakaa and Henry Taylor and Maryland poet laureates Lucille Clifton and Michael Glaser.
At the first event in this year's series, Karlin, author of 10 books, will read from his latest, "Wandering Souls," on March 5 at CSM's Leonardtown campus. In "Wandering Souls," Karlin reflects on the struggle of veteran Homer Steedly Jr. to find peace for himself and the family of Hoang Ngoc Dam, a man he killed in Vietnam.
Karlin is the recipient of numerous awards, including five State of Maryland Awards for fiction, two National Endowment of the Arts Fellowships, the Paterson Prize for fiction and an Excellence in the Arts Award from the Vietnam Veterans of America. Karlin, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps including a tour in Vietnam in 1966-67 as a helicopter gunner, has taught at CSM for more than 20 years.
Kicking off National Poetry Month at CSM, Ryan will read poems from several of her collections, including the forthcoming "The Best of It," at April 2 at CSM's La Plata campus.
Ryan has lived in Marin County, Calif. and taught foundation English skills at the College of Marin for more than 30 years. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ruth Lilly Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, the Ingram Merrill Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and four Pushcart Prizes. She has been included in "The Best American Poetry" collection four times and was included in its "The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997" anthology. In 2006, she was named the chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, a post she will hold until 2012.
The Library of Congress' 16th poet laureate, Ryan unveiled The Community College Poetry Project in October. "It is at a community college that a student can progress all the way from learning to read to learning to read poetry," Ryan said in a Library of Congress press release announcing the project's launch.
The project includes "Poetry for the Mind's Joy," a Web site to be launched by the Library of Congress that will feature poetry submitted by community colleges and a National Poetry Day on community college campuses April 1 that will include events, readings and a conference call/Webcast.
Completing the Connections series will be readings by contributors to the spring literary magazine on April 30 at the La Plata campus, in Learning Resource Building, Room 102. The event is free. Deadline to submit poetry, short stories or black-and-white photography for consideration is March 17.
If you want to go
College of Southern Maryland professor and author Wayne Karlin will read from his latest novel, "Wandering Souls," at 7:30 p.m. March 5 at the Leonardtown campus of CSM, Building A auditorium, 22950 Hollywood Road. Tickets are $3.
U.S Poet Laureate Kay Ryan will speak at 7:30 p.m. April 2 at the College of Southern Maryland's La Plata campus, 8730 Mitchell Road. Tickets are $5.
CSM professor Neal Dwyer will host readings by contributors to the spring literary magazine Connections at 7:30 p.m. April 30 in the learning resource building on the La Plata campus.
For more information, go to www.csmd.edu/connections.
