Notre Dame College and Ursuline Join to Celebrate Ohio Writers

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio--22 September 2003- Notre Dame and Ursuline Colleges will celebrate Ohio's bicentennial with an event that salutes the state's two centuries of writers. The Ohio Writers Celebration takes place Thursday, October 23 and Friday, October 24 with programs at both area campuses.

The event's opening program is "Ohio Writers, Live!" October 23, 3:00-6:00 p.m. at Ursuline College's Pilla Center. Presenters include Mary Doria Russell, South Euclid author of best-selling novel, The Sparrow (1997) and Children of God (1999); and Bridgette A. Wimberly, Cleveland-born playwright and award-winning author of Forest City. Thursday's program is free of charge and open to the public.

The Thursday program moves to Ursuline's Daley Dining Hall at 5:30 p.m. with Anthony Zupancic, faculty in the Notre Dame College English Department, and students presenting "From Page to Stage: Performing Your Creative Writing" followed by a presentation by Karen Sandstrom, Plain Dealer Book Editor. Winners of the event's high school creative writing competition will be honored. Dinner is optional for a small fee; a dessert reception follows.

Notre Dame College's Performing Arts Center is the venue for the Friday program, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., "Ohio Writers in the Classroom." The keynote speaker is acclaimed Cleveland short story writer and novelist, Mary Grimm, faculty

member of Case Western Reserve University's English Department. The program is designed for educators from middle grades through college, and open to the public. Registration for Friday only is $20 (students pay only $10) and includes lunch.

Friday's break-out sessions will be led by scholars Grace Cavalieri, St. Mary's College of Southern Maryland, on Rita Dove; Adrienne Gosselin, Ph.D., Cleveland State University, on Langston Hughes; Marilyn Valentino, Ph.D., Lorain County Community College, on Toni Morrison; Herbert Woodward Martin, University of Dayton, on Paul Laurence Dunbar; Christopher DeSantis, Ph.D., Illinois State University, on Charles W. Chesnutt; Sanford Marovitz, Ph.D., Kent State University, on William Dean Howells; Sr. Regina Alfonso, SND, Notre Dame College, on children's books by Ohio authors; Will Schuck, Sherwood Anderson Center, on Sherwood Anderson; Lorle Porter, Ph.D., Muskingum College, on Ohio history writing.

Friday's program also includes a panel of secondary educators on curriculum ideas with Ohio writers. Books will be available for purchase on site.

The event is presented with support from the Ohio Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For graduate credit through Notre Dame College's Center for Professional Development contact Sr. Eileen Quinlan, SND, Ph.D., 216-373-5230 or equinlan@ndc.edu.

Ursuline College is located at 2550 Lander Road, Pepper Pike. Notre Dame College is located at 4545 College Road in South Euclid. For information and registration to either program contact Elaine Langlais, 440-646-8111 or elanglai@ursuline.edu.