SCC to Host Arnow Conference on April 11

The 12th annual Harriette Arnow Conference on Appalachian Literature and Culture will be held on Friday, April 11, 2014 at Somerset Community College. It will begin in the Harold Rogers Student Commons on the Somerset Campus North, located at 808 Monticello Street, Somerset, with registration at 8 a.m. The theme of the 2014 conference is "Talking Appalachian."

The conference schedule is as follows:
8 a.m. - Registration amp; Refreshments
8:45 a.m. - Welcome
9 a.m. - Keynote Address
oAmy Clark, Wise Virginia, author of Talking Appalachian
10 a.m. - Readings by Gwyn Hyman Rubio, author of Icy Sparks and The Woodsmans Daughter and Christina Lovin, author of What We Burned for Warmth
11 a.m. - Fiction Workshop with Gwyn Hyman Rubio and Poetry Workshop with Christina Lovin
12 p.m. - Book Signings amp; lunch
12:30 p.m. - Mitch Barrett amp; Kevin Dalton, singer-songwriters
1:45 p.m. - Anne Shelbys one-woman show Aunt Molly Jackson
2:45 p.m. - Songwriting Workshop and Poetry Workshop with Christina Lovin
3 p.m. - Celebrating Harriette Arnow
4 p.m. - Wrap-Up amp; Open Mic (A time for participants to share their work and impressions of the day)

About the presenters

Amy Clark
Amy Clarks articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times and her writing has been featured on the NPR program With Good Reasons. She co-edited Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community. A recipient of many awards, Amy is also the founding director of the Appalachian Writing Project, a non-profit organization that supports rural teachers in their research, writing, and teaching about writing. She teaches at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, VA.

Gwyn Hyman Rubio
Gwyn Hyman Rubio grew up in south Georgia in the small town of Cordele, not far from Plains. Her father was a writer and published the bestseller No Time for Sergeants in 1954 when he was only 31 years old. It was adapted for stage and a film starring Andy Griffith. Upon graduating from Florida State University with a B.A. in English, Gwyn joined the Peace Corps serving in Costa Rica and working as a village preschool program coordinator and teacher. For many years, Gwyn avoided writing, believing that her fathers early death from a heart attack was associated with the stress of his writing career. Oprahs Book Club wrote of its selection of her book Icy Sparks that the novel is a funny and transcendent tale of a young girl growing up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky during the 1950's.

Christina Lovin
Christina Lovin is the author of two volumes of poetry, ECHO and A Stirring in the Dark, and three chapbooks: What We Burned for Warmth, Little Fires, and Flesh (all published by Finishing Line Press). Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in over a hundred journals and anthologies in the United States and abroad. Having studied creative writing at Harvard Universitys summer writing program, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New England College and teaches at Eastern Kentucky University.

Kevin Dalton
Kevin Dalton studied at SCC before getting his B.S. from EKU. From a musical family, Kevin has played guitar since he was nine, and has distinguished himself as not only an excellent musician but a songwriter of great range and depth. He and his band Faubush Hill (named after an area near Mill Springs National Cemetery where Kevin makes his home) have played at Master Musicians Festival, ROMP in Owensboro, The Listening Room, and the iconic Tootsies on Broadway in Nashville. Rich with imagery, Kevins songs exemplify musical storytelling at its finest.

Anne Shelby
Anne Shelby s the author of ten books, including childrens books, plays, social commentary, and poetry. She is a master storyteller whose opinion pieces have been gathered into a collection called Can a Democrat Get into Heaven? She has been an activist who has worked on behalf of responsible environmental regulation, particularly in the area of water quality and mountain-top removal mining techniques. She has preformed her one-woman show "The Lone Pilgrim: Songs and Stories of Aunt Molly Jackson" at various venues and her work, focusing on Kentucky, has been published widely.

Mitch Barrett
Mitch Barrett is a singer songwriter and storyteller who lives in Berea and focuses his keen storytelling skills on the Appalachian mountains and people he loves. Recognized twice for his songwriting and performing at the prestigious Merlefest Music Festival, Mitch was also named a Telluride Troubadour and continually shares the stage with the likes of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Claire Lynch. He is very active through the Kentucky Arts Council with workshops in the public schools and is an advocate against domestic violence, and his music artfully confronts the spiritual and political issues facing the region, from race to the environment to the dangers of unchecked consumerism.

The cost for the conference is $10 if registration is received prior to April 1. After April 1, the cost will be $20. Registration fees includes lunch.

To register, mail check and name, address and email to: Somerset Community College, ATTN: Sherry Crabtree, 808 Monticello Street, Somerset, KY 42501.

For more information about the Harriette Arnow Conference, contact Wanda Fries at wanda.fries@kctcs.edu.