Clemson prepares for fifth annual Literary Festival

Published: March 27, 2012

By Max Sewesky

CLEMSON — Students, faculty, staff and literature enthusiasts from across the Southeast are getting ready for the fifth annual Clemson Literary Festival.

The festival, which is sponsored by Clemson University and the city of Clemson, will feature 18 events from Wednesday, April 11, to Saturday, April 14. They will be held in locations across Clemson University’s campus and in several downtown Clemson locations.

Since 2008 the festival has hosted 50 writers, journalists and editors of national acclaim. Now, for the first time, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Richard Ford, will be part of the festival.

Ford won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for his novel “Independence Day,” for which he also won the PEN/Faulkner Prize. Ford was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2001 PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction and the 1995 Rea Award. Ford will give a reading at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 12, at the Alumni Center, 109 Daniel Drive.

In addition to Ford, TIME magazine book critic Lev Grossman will answer questions about Publishing in the 21^st Century at 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 13, in Daniel Hall.

Other celebrated authors, including Heather Christle, Chris Bachelder and Maurice Manning, will give readings from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 12, at 356 Restaurant and Sushi Bar at 366 College Avenue.

Authors John Warner, Harmony Holiday, Laura van den Berg, Steve Healey and Grossman will read from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Overtime Sports Bar, 102-2 Earle St.

The festival will conclude on Saturday, April 14, with a Family Day at the Arts Center, 212 Butler St., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

All festival events are free and open to the public.

For a schedule of events and more information about the authors, the sponsors and the Creative Inquiry team of students that made it happen, visit http://www.clemson.edu/litfest.

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