Scissortail Arts Series
Oklahoma Literary Arts Festival 2009
| Flyer (pdf) | Poetry Contest (pdf) |
| Sessions (pdf) | Registration (pdf) |
The East Central University Department of English and Languages and the Center of Continuing Education and Community Services will host its 14th Annual Oklahoma Literary Arts Festival on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, at the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center as part of the Scissortail Arts Series. The keynote presentation of the day will be provided by New York Poet and Slam Poetry Champion Taylor Mali (www.taylormali.com).
A poet and a teacher, Taylor Mali is generally considered to be one of the most successful poetry slam strategists of all time, having won the National Poetry Slam a record four times. He was also one of the original poets on HBO's Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry. And since June of 2000, when he said goodbye to his last sixth grade homeroom class, Mali has made a living as a poet, traveling the country and the world, reciting, reading, teaching, and lecturing about poetry.
Mali attended drama school at Oxford University. His one-man show "Teacher! Teacher!" won the jury prize for best solo performance at the U. S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2002. Taylor Mali is a tenth-generation New Yorker with an M.A. in English literature who loved teaching. Mali spent nine years in the classroom and has performed and lectured for teachers and students all over the world.
The Oklahoma Literary Arts Festival offers for high school students and teachers a series of workshops provided by members of the ECU English faculty and guest artists (from 8:30-11:30 a.m.) as well as the general session (from 12:00-1:30 p.m.) featuring Taylor Mali. Space is limited during these sessions so early registration is encouraged. Registration will begin in September and can be done online.
For more information, please call Charlee Lanis at 580-559-5457 or Teresa Rothrock at 580-559-5439.