Critically acclaimed poets Sabrina Orah Mark and Michael Dumanis will read from and discuss their works at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 2, in the Macon State College Auditorium in the Learning Support Building off Ivey Drive. This event is free and open to the public. Call Dr. Amy Berke at (478) 471-5788 for more information.
Brooklyn native Sabrina Orah Mark now lives in Athens, GA, where she teaches at Agnes Scott College and the University of Georgia. Her first book of poetry, The Babies, has earned much acclaim and won the 2004 Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize. Mark’s work has also appeared in American Poet, The Canary, Conduit, The Indiana Review, and other journals. Mark currently is working on her second book, Tsim Tsum, which will be published by Saturnalia Books later this year.
Michael Dumanis, who was born in the Soviet Union and lived there until 1981 when his parents were granted political asylum in the U.S., now lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He teaches at Cleveland State University and serves as the director of the Cleveland State University Poetry Center. Dumanis’ first book, Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century, was co-written with fellow poet Cate Marvin. His second book, My Soviet Union: Poems, won the 2006 Juniper Prize for Poetry.
On April 3-4, 75 Students from 10 Georgia colleges will participate in “The Culture of Conflict,” Macon State’s first interdisciplinary, undergraduate conference. Conference papers and presentations include video, fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and scholarly research in literature, rhetoric, history, political science, sociology, economics, and philosophy. Macon State College is well represented at the conference, with 30 students presenting a total of 34 scholarly papers, creative works, and videos.
In addition to student presentations, which will take place in the Macon State Conference Center from 8:30 am – 4:15 pm on April 4th, the conference will feature two speakers:
Kelly Cherry will offer a poetry reading on Friday, April 3rd, at 7:00 pm in the Learning Support Auditorium. Professor Cherry is the author of seventeen books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction (essay, memoir, criticism), eight chapbooks, and two translations of classical drama. She has received the Hanes Award for Poetry from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and her short fiction has been represented in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and The Pushcart Prize. Forthcoming in 2009 are Girl in a Library: On Women Writers and the Writing Life and The Retreats of Thought: Poems. She is Eudora Welty Professor Emerita of English and EvjueBascom Professor Emerita in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She currently serves as Master Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Cultural critic and historian Jelani Cobb, Associate Professor of History at Spelman College, will offer a keynote address on Saturday April 4th at 4:30 pm in the Convention Center Banquet Hall. Dr. Cobb has published widely on African American history, culture and politics. His publications include To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic and The Devil and Dave Chappelle and Other Essays. He also edited The Essential Harold Cruse: A Reader. Professor Cobb’s forthcoming books are In Our Lifetimes: Barack Obama and the New Black America and Antidote to Revolution: African American Anticommunism and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1931-1957.
In addition to his academic career, Professor Cobb has made a name for himself as an essayist and commentator. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Essence, Vibe, Emerge, The Progressive, The Washington City Paper, ONE Magazine, Ebony and online at TheRoot.com. Professor Cobb has also appeared on National Public Radio, CNN, Al-Jazeera, and CBS News. In 2008, Professor Cobb served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, representing Georgia’s 5th Congressional District.
All events are free and open to the public.
To learn more about the conference, see the official web site. A complete schedule of student presentations is also available here. For more information, contact Dr. Mary Wearn at 471-2989 or Dr. Jeffrey Burson at 471-5747.
The Culture of Conflict conference is sponsored by the Macon State Foundation, the School of Arts and Sciences, the English Studies Organization, and the History Students Organization.
Participating Colleges
- Macon State College
- Columbus State University
- Wesleyan College
- University of West Georgia
- Georgia Southwestern State University
- Georgia Southern University
- Armstrong Atlantic University
- Georgia State University
- Kennesaw State University
- Georgia College and State University
I have posted photographs from this week’s Arts Festival: “Borderlines: Reading, Writing, Performing in American Spaces.” All four speakers were excellent — Lillian Allen, Tayari Jones, Carmen Agra Deedy, Lorna Goodison. Many thanks to Sharon Colley and Derrilyn Morrison for asking me to play a small part as photographer. Well done, Drs!
Please check out the 2009 Arts Festival gallery.
