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SCC to host 6th Annual Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture April 11
The Sixth Annual Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture will be held on the Somerset Campus of Somerset Community College on Friday, April 11. The theme of this year’s event will be “One Hundred Years: Celebrating Harriette Arnow’s Enduring Themes.”
Special guests and workshop leaders this year will include Sidney Saylor Farr, former editor of Appalachian Heritage and a former Berea College staff member; Appalachian poet Marianne Worthington, English Professor at University of the Cumberlands; along with Charlie Sweet and Hal Blythe, both English professors at Eastern Kentucky University.
Contributors and speakers at this year’s conference include author Gurney Norman, University of Kentucky faculty member, who is recognized as a contributing member of the Appalachian Renaissance; Arnow scholar Dr. Sandra Ballard, an English professor at Appalachian State University and editor of Appalachian Journal; and Arnow scholar and author Dr. Haeja Chung of Michigan State University.
The enduring and popular features of the SCC Arnow Conference are the creative writing workshops. This year, Farr will read from her new memoir, My Appalachia, and discuss writing and publishing. Blythe and Sweet will lead the Fiction workshop, and Worthington will conduct the Poetry workshop. Those events will be held concurrently from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, April 11.
A book signing featuring all of the conference’s special guests will be held at 11:30 a.m.
Ballard will be the keynote speaker at the luncheon.
A panel discussion about “Arnow’s Contributions and Influence” will begin at 1 p.m. Norman will be the moderator. The panel will include Ballard, Sweet, Blythe, and Chung.
Concurrent academic presentations will be held from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Tom Arnow, the son of Harriette Simpson Arnow, will present “A Personal Look at Harriette Simpson Arnow” beginning at 4 p.m., followed by a showing of Herb Smith’s film about Arnow, with Smith discussing the making of the film.
The conference will conclude about 5:45.
For more information about the Arnow Conference contact Lynn Crabtree. Her e-mail address is lynn.crabtree@kctcs.edu. Her telephone number is (606) 451-6765.
Somerset Community College is a comprehensive two-year institution of higher education. SCC has campuses in Somerset and London, centers in Clinton, McCreary, Casey and Russell Counties. The website is www.somerset.kctcs.edu. Call for admission and registration information toll free at 1-877-629-9722.
KCTCS serves the Commonwealth through 16 community and technical college districts that form a seamless system of 62 campuses open or under construction. KCTCS colleges change lives by providing accessible and affordable education and training through academic and technical associate degrees; diploma and certificate programs in occupational fields; pre-baccalaureate education; adult, continuing and developmental education; customized training for business and industry; and distance learning. For more information, visit www.kctcs.edu.
