Humantities Connection Spring 2005 Page 5

Literary Festival at Millikin University

The English Department at Millikin University, 1184 West Main Street in Decatur, will hold its Annual Literary Festival March 11-13 at Millikin. The festival will include a high school literary contest, writing workshops, and teacher workshops.

The festival will allow high school and college students, adults and teachers to learn from a panel of experienced writers. The festival will cover the areas of poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing.

Panelists include Randy Brooks, the chair of Millikin’s English Department and accomplished Haiku writer; Stephen Frech, Assistant Professor at Millikin and winner of Illinois State Arts Council Grant in Poetry; Rebecca Meacham, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and award winning writer; Joe Meno, award winning writer and Fiction Professor at Columbia College Chicago; and Chuck Rybak, award winning writer and Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Washington County.

The festival begins on Friday night with a dinner and keynote speaker. Saturday’s sessions include a number of workshops and an evening Open Mic Poetry Slam. The workshop wraps up on Sunday with workshops and the presentation of prizewinners in the High School Literary Contest.

High school students can submit their poetry in the literary contest to find out how their writing rates. Entries are limited to five pages per student. Students will be competing for scholarships from Millikin University with the first place winner being awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Deadline for entering the Literary Contest for High School Students is February 1.

High school teachers can earn five hours of Continuing Education Units (CEU) or 1 to 4 Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDU). Workshop topics include: Writing in the Classroom, Pedagogy Lectures, Creative Writing Workshops and more. The fees for the CEUs is $300 with the CPDU’s costing $60 per credit hour.

For more information or to register for the Millikin University Annual Literary Festival and Literary Contest for High School Students go online at www.millikin.edu/literaryfestival or call (217) 424-6250. Registration for the festival is due by March 1.