Category Archives: Literature

Creative Class of 2015: Scott Walters

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scottwaltersOctober may have ended yesterday. But since this is about Creativity, the Creative Class stretches into November for one day this year.  Scott Walters uses his position as Rector of Christ Church to build connections and raise awareness of a variety of art forms and creative disciplines.

Through his leadership and encouragement, two different public gallery spaces have been created at Christ Church, an Arts at Christ Church series has been launched (featuring all types of music from Grammy winning soul to Renaissance chamber), the basement has been turned into The Undercroft music venue with regular performances, and a partnership with the Arkansas Literary Festival has been undertaken.

Concerned with the built environment, he has led walking tours of downtown which have focused not only on the history of the neighborhood but also looking at its present and envisioning its future possibilities.  Because Christ Church is at a hub of development in the River Market, Creative Corridor, SoMa, MacArthur Park and Hanger Hill, he is exploring ways to more actively integrate the church into its greater community.

Interested in historic preservation, he is currently shepherding an effort to restore the historic stained glass windows at the church. A student of poetry, philosophy and urban planning, he can often be found engaged in discussions about those topics.  But he is just as likely to discuss comedians, YouTube videos, and the local music scene.

Creative Class of 2015: Frank Thurmond

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thurmond_frankFrank Thurmond is a writer-musician-actor-filmmaker-teacher. He is, in short, a multi-hyphenate!

Thurmond was born in Paragould and grew up in Crossett and Little Rock, where he attended Hall High School.  He studied English and music as a Donaghey Scholar at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and pursued graduate degrees at Southern Methodist University and Oxford University. Thurmond is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and has been a visiting writer in residence at Lyon College in Batesville.

 
Most recently, he released Ring of Five: A Novella and Four Stories.  Thurmond’s first book was a memoir entitled Before I Sleep: A Memoir of Travel and Reconciliation, which recounts his adult experience of meeting his previously unknown birth father.  He is a member of the bands ODYSSEY and JET420 and can often be found playing at local stages.
The film The Dealer’s Tale, which he wrote and produced (and is directed by Justin Nickels) will screen as an Official Selection at the Indie Memphis film festival on Friday, November 6th.  When it screened at the El Dorado Film Festival, Thurmond was awarded the Best Screenplay Award at the El Dorado Film Festival.
           
He has been featured at both the Arkansas Literary Festival and the Little Rock Film Festival.  Previously, Thurmond’s writing has appeared in various publications, including the International Herald Tribune; The Best of Tales from the South, Volume 6; Toad Suck Review; and in William Safire’s language book, No Uncertain Terms.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library focus of Clinton School program tonight

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uacs dpilimglib2cIn 1995, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort to benefit the children of her home county in East Tennessee. Parton’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her country’s preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month.

Since launching 20 years ago, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the premier early childhood book-gifting program in the world, by mailing over 66 million books in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Currently the program mails over 830,000 specially selected, age appropriate books monthly to registered children from birth to age five. Parton’s vision was to create a lifelong love of reading, prepare children for Kindergarten, and inspire them to dream more, learn more, care more, and be more.

Tonight at 6pm at the Clinton School, Jeff Conyers, the executive director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, will discuss the program.

Eliza Borné named new editor of Oxford American

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Eliza BorneEliza Borné is the new editor of the Oxford American, succeeding Roger D. Hodge, who left the magazine in June. Borné joined the magazine in 2013 as associate editor and was promoted to managing editor in 2014. Since June 2015, she has served as interim editor.
“This is wonderful news,” said Hodge, who recruited Borné in 2013. “Eliza is a brilliant editor and wonderful person—the Oxford American could not have made a better choice. I look forward to reading her magazine for many years.”
“I am incredibly proud of the work we have done under Roger’s leadership for the past three years,” said Borné. “We have published great stories that transcend genre and give our readers new perspectives on the South. With every issue, I am astounded again by the brilliance of our amazing writers, artists, and contributors. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead our talented editorial staff as we continue creating this vital and spirited magazine that I have loved since I was a teenager.”
Under Borné’s direction, the OA has maintained its high standard of excellence, publishing work as rich and varied as a 12-page poem by Nikky Finney; fiction by Catherine Lacey and Jamie Quatro; and a deep profile of a transgender drug counselor from the U.S.-Mexico border. Since 2013, she has worked with such acclaimed writers as Lauren Groff, Harrison Scott Key, Beth Ann Fennelly, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Sarah Menkedick, and many others. Pieces Borné edited have been recognized in Best American Essays and Best American Travel Writing.
“Eliza is a member of the next generation of readers,” said Vincent LoVoi, OA board member and publisher of This Land Press. “Her keen insights and long-view will enable the OA to continue to grow in the new media environment. She has a timeless talent that will serve us well.”
Borné is the third editor of the Oxford American. Hodge led the magazine from September 2012 through June 2015, when he became the national editor of the Intercept. Hodge remains on the masthead as editor-at-large. Marc Smirnoff founded the Oxford American in 1992.
A native of Little Rock, Borné, 29, previously worked as an editor at BookPage, a book review publication based in Nashville. She graduated from Wellesley College and she lives in Little Rock with her husband, John C. Williams, an assistant federal public defender (whom she met when they were both Oxford American interns in 2006).
The Oxford American also welcomes longtime contributor Jay Jennings to the masthead as senior editor. Jennings brings decades of industry experience as a former editor with Sports Illustrated, Time Out New York, Artforum, and other magazines. He is the author of Carry the Rock: Race, Football, and the Soul of an American City and he edited Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany.

Family bonds and College Football, tonight at the Clinton School

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uacs last seasonPolitical strategist Stuart Stevens will speak at the Clinton School this evening about his book, The Last Season: A Father, a Son and a Lifetime of College Football tonight at 6pm at the Clinton School.

In the fall of 2012, after serving as the top strategist for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, Stuart Stevens, having turned sixty, realized that he and his ninety-five-year-old father had spent little time together for decades. His solution: a season of attending Ole Miss football games together, as they’d done when college football provided a way for his father to guide him through childhood–and to make sense of the troubled South of the time. Now, driving to and from the games, and cheering from the stands, they take stock of their lives as father and son, and as individuals, reminding themselves of their unique, complicated, precious bond. Poignant and full of heart, but also irreverent and often hilarious, “The Last Season” is a powerful story of parents and children and the importance of taking a backward glance together while you still can.

Stuart is one of the nation’s most successful political strategists and media consultants. For twenty-five years, Stuart has been the lead strategist and media consultant for some of the nation’s toughest political campaigns such as Senator Portman, Senator Blunt, Governor Haley Barbour, Governor Tom Ridge and President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

In 2014, he was lead strategist for Senator Thad Cochran’s come from behind runoff win and led an 8 state Super PAC campaign to help secure the new Senate Majority. Beginning his political career in his native Mississippi, Stuart first worked on Thad Cochran’s campaigns and has gone on to help elect more governors and US Senators than any other current Republican media consultant.

Stuart has written five books, published numerous essays and articles, written extensively for both film and television, is a former Fellow of the American Film Institute and a current weekly columnist for The Daily Beast.

Kidstock today at CALS Hillary Clinton Children’s Library

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Peace, love, and fun.  The Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th Street, will hold Kidstock on Saturday, October 24, from 2-4:30 p.m.  Kidstock will occur on the grounds of the Children’s Library and will include musical performances, activities, and games.
Music will be provided by Trout Fishing in America and Big Still River.  Activities and games include tree painting, yoga, tug-of- war, bubble stations, farm animals from Dunbar Gardens, and a photo wall.
CALS’ Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center is one of fourteen CALS branches serving Pulaski and Perry counties.  The Children’s Library is open Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m.  For more information, call 978-3870 or visit www.cals.org.

 

Creative Class of 2015: Rebekah Scallet

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scalletRebekah Scallet is the producing artistic director of the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.  A graduate of Parkview High School and Brandeis University, she has an MFA from Illinois State University.  In addition to being active in theatre at Parkview while a student there, she served as stage manager for productions of the former Shakespeare Festival of Arkansas while she was in college.

After working in several Illinois-based theatres, she returned to Arkansas in 2011 and took her position with the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.  In addition to overseeing the artistic facets, she directs productions for AST.  In 2012, her first season, she directed Twelfth Night. The work on that garnered her an Arkansas Arts Council Fellowship in 2014.

In subsequent seasons, she has directed The Merchant of Venice, King Lear and Two Gentlemen of Verona for the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre. She also directed The Caucasian Chalk Circle and A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur at UCA, where she also serves as a lecturer in theatre.