Get Lit! makes plans for 2012
This year’s Get Lit! kicks off with some good news about next year’s Get Lit!: There will, in fact, be one.
Eastern Washington University has secured some “non-state funding” to keep the event going, according to Lynn Briggs, EWU’s dean of the College of Arts, Letters and Education.
Coordinator Danielle Ward is heading off to California after this year’s event, so a search has begun for a replacement, Briggs said.
Meanwhile, this year’s festival is characteristically sprawling and ambitious, with 55 readings, panels and workshops.
In addition to “An Evening with Tim O’Brien and Brian Turner,” and Ani DeFranco in concert (look for a full preview in Friday’s Today section), the following three events require tickets, available in advance or at the door.
• Tales From the Periodic Table with Sam Kean, today, 7 p.m., Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. – Kean is the author of the hot-selling “The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements.”
Ward said she booked this entertaining science writer because literary festivals rarely venture into science.
“We wanted to reach out to another part of our community,” she said.
• Reimagining the Classics with Sena Jeter Naslund and Nancy Rawles, Friday, 7 p.m., Lincoln Center, 1316 N. Lincoln St. – Both authors have rewritten classic works from an outside perspective: the “Moby Dick” story through the eyes of the captain’s wife in “Ahab’s Wife” by Naslund, and the “Huck Finn” story through the eyes of Jim’s wife in Rawles’ “My Jim.”
• In Conversation with Matthew Dickman, Sunday, 11:30 a.m., Lincoln Center – Dickman is a young poet from Portland who sprinkles his poetry with pop culture references. He’s a favorite of the New Yorker magazine.
Most Get Lit! events are free. You can still get into the vast majority of them simply by showing up.
You can even sign up right at the door for most of the workshops Saturday at the Riverpoint Campus Phase One Building, 668 N. Riverpoint Blvd.
• Saturday workshops – There will be two sessions, one beginning at 9:30 a.m., the other at 3:30 p.m. Topics include “The Second Draft of History,” “The Zine Scene” and “Developing Your Blogging Style.”
• Community Panels and Talks – Topics range from graphic novels to nature writing to telling the American story. Sessions start at noon and 1:45 p.m., also at the Riverpoint Campus Phase One Building (by the way, local traffic will be allowed through to the Riverpoint Campus, despite the construction).
• Native American Spotlight – Two panel discussions titled “Culturally Infused Words” and “Traditional Stories of the First Americans,” Saturday at 1 and 2:45 p.m., respectively, at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, 2316 W. First Ave.
Check the Get Lit! website at www.ewu.edu/getlit to see all of the free panels, workshops and readings.