Connect with The Literary Connection

I’ve been on the periphery when it comes to planning for the Literary Connection: Between Readers and Writers conference in Cheyenne. My wife, Chris, has been right in the thick of things as the director of Writers Voice (and other arts programs) at the Cheyenne Family YMCA. The Y has been co-sponsor since the inaugural 2004 event, which featured Cheyenne mystery writer C.J. Box, Jackson memoirist Alexandra Fuller, award-winning poet James Galvin, who lives near Tie Siding when not teaching at the Iowa Writers Workshop; Colorado Springs writer Gus Lee; and Annie Proulx, who won the Pulitzer Prize for The Shipping News and lives near Saratoga.

Conference planners were inspired by The Literary Sojourn held each September in Steamboat Springs, Colo. They relied on Wyoming/Colorado talent for their first outing in 2004. They’ve gone further afield to snag talent for this, the fourth annual Literary Connection. Here’s the line-up: Brooklyn's Myla Goldberg, author of the national bestseller Bee Season; novelist and short story writer Jill McCorkle (The Cheerleader, Crash Diet); Bob Shacochis, globe-trotting author of Swimming in the Volcano and Easy on the Islands; Wyoming songwriter Jeff Hawthorne Bullock (Girls Night Out, recorded by The Judds); and California poet Kim Addonizio, author of Jimmy & Rita and Tell Me, a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award.

Only one Wyomingite this time out. I admit that I don’t know Jeff Bullock and have never heard of him. I do know some of the songs, such as "Girls Night Out" by The Judds. Just goes to show that a guy (me) whose job it is to know and work with the artists/writers/performers in the least-populated state in the USA does not know all the talent. I guess you could look at the guy (me) and say: "You ain’t doing your job, buddy." Or you might be tempted to say: "Dang, Wyoming has a lot of talent for a state with more antelope than people." The Wyoming Arts Council currently does not serve antelope, although you can get a nice antelope steak at The Safari Club in Thermopolis.

As in the past, two of the scheduled writers will conduct a free writing workshop at Laramie County Community College on Friday, April 27, 1-4 p.m. On Saturday, April 28, 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., at the Hitching Post Inn, the Connection’s five writers will talk about their work and sign books, courtesy of City News. There is a cost for this event.

New this year is a series of Saturday book discussions featuring work by this year’s Literary Connection authors. They will be led by Sara Burlingame-Thomas, writer, conference planner, and owner of Sara’s Breads in Cheyenne. We’ve already missed the first session, which discussed Myla Goldberg’s Wickett’s Remedy. But plan to get out to the Laramie County Public Library on March 3 for Tell Me by Kim Addonizio; March 24 for The Immaculate Invasion by Bob Shacochis; and April 14 for Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. City Newsstand and Bookstore downtown will hold discussions for Creatures of Habit by Jill McCorkle and The Poet’s Companion by Kim Addonizio. All sessions will be held at 2 p.m. Books are available for check-out at the library and for purchase at City News.

The best way to get primed for this conference is to read at least one book by each author. I’m never than organized, so have to buy the books at the conference, get the authors to sign them, and then hunker to read. I was bowled over by two books from last year: The Problem with Murmur Lee by Florida novelist Connie May Fowler, and the fine memoir by J.R. Moehringer, The Tender Bar.