41st Annual UND Writers Conference

The 41st Annual Writers Conference is underway (March 21-27). Nationally acclaimed and world renowned artists and writers the likes of Chuck Klosterman, Sir Salman Rushdie, Allen Ginsberg, and Truman Capote have graced the conference in past years. This year will be just as amazing, featuring Art Spiegelman. The conference theme will focus on print media and art, an exciting combination. So get on board for this year’s lineup. It is going to be a wild ride!

Cecelia Condit

“My mother collects leaves.  I collect stories.  Mother’s stories,” so we learn from Cecelia Condit in her film “Annie Lloyd”—a piece that explores familial images and mother- daughter relationships.

Condit is perhaps best known for cultivating women’s voices, narrating the stories of the innocence of young girls, and recording the wisdom of aging women.  Often, the tales are set in natural worlds of flowers and fields; these idyllic scenes are almost always disrupted with the introduction of malice, death, and occasionally a cannibal.  In Condit’s words, she is “a storyteller whose work swings between beauty and the grotesque, humor and the macabre, innocence and cruelty.”

Condit, a professor of Film at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has been working with visual arts since childhood. She began with photography, then moved into the medium of film and, since the 1980s, has been working primarily with video. Her work is internationally renowned and she has is the recipient of many awards, grants, and fellowships, including several from the National Endowment for the Arts.

At the 41st Annual UND Writers Conference, Cecelia Condit will be discussing her art in a public lecture on Wednesday, March 24 at 8 p.m. The lecture will take place at North Dakota Museum of Art, where her work is currently on exhibit.  Excerpts of her work are freely available online at http://www.ceceliacondit.com/.

Kristen Jacobus is a Masters student of English at the University of North Dakota

Stuart Moulthrop

Stuart Moulthrop is an internationally acclaimed writer and theoretician of hypertext media and digital culture. His work is fundamentally concerned with destabilizing our everyday interactions with media and society, and includes hypertext fiction, “textual instruments,” and traditional print essays. In 1993, Robert Coover named Moulthrop the “leading practitioner and theorist” of hypertext fiction, and his classic, “Victory Garden,” remains one of the most popular hypertexts ever published.
                                                                                                                                                                “Victory Garden” takes place during the first Gulf War in the university town, Tara. Emily Runbird, a graduate student who is deployed as a postal clerk in the war,is the novel’s central character. But there is arguably no clear protagonist; rather, each character’s perspective is presented in a series of connections between characters and events. These connections are made by the novel’s reader, whose interaction with the embedded links decides the direction of the narrative, filling in the narrative space between pieces of text whose meanings are not always obviously connected. The reader feels a mixture of delight and anxiety in the text’s ephemeral nature, an experience that mimics that of the characters in their media-saturated experience of war. Moulthrop’s style is as lovely as it is caustically funny, and “Victory Garden” remains as acutely relevant today as it was two decades ago.

In his theoretical works, Moulthrop is explicitly concerned with the relationship between hyptertext and cultural revolution. Both hopeful and skeptical, he does not believe hypertext alone will bring about a more democratic social space, but he maintains that hypertext disrupts everyday assumptions and ways of thinking and interacting, defamiliarizing reading and social practices. His hope is that the reader of hypertext will become “creatively paranoid,” actively aware of the systems of power around her and encouraged to manipulate them.

Stuart Moulthrop will give a public reading of his works on Friday, March 26, at 4 p.m. in the UND Memorial Union Lecture Bowl. Samples of his work are freely available online at http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/.

~Maggie Kainulainen is a Masters student of English at the University of North Dakota.

Frank X. Walker

As an author of four poetry collections, Frank X. Walker enjoys remarkable literary success.  Recipient of the Lannan Literary Fellowship in 2005 and winner of the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award for “Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York” in 2003, Walker considers himself a truth teller, declaring, “I choose to focus on Social Justice issues as well as themes of family, identity and place.”

A native of Kentucky, he enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky and completed his MFA in writing at Spalding University.  His passion for the region’s artistic heritage inspired him to co-found the Affrilachian Poets, a group responding to the notion that Appalachia is simply an all-whites territory.  He explains, “I believe it is my responsibility to say as loudly and often as possible that people and artists of color are part of the past and present of the multi-state Appalachian region.”

In 2001, this animated group of artists produced “Coal Black Voices,” a documentary, which presents the intimate stories of ten regional poets from the Appalachian country of Kentucky as they grapple with concerns of race, identity, family, and land.  Drawing on their experiences, these “Affrilachian” writers tell stories, both pensive and humorous, to celebrate their cultural traditions and individual art.  The result is a vivid illustration of life in the American South.

Frank X Walker is more than a just gifted poet; he is also a powerful orator.  His soft, easy voice, coupled with a swift and cogent writing style, is cunningly persuasive.  Readers and listeners alike soon discover that his words possess the strong ability to provoke emotion.  They share in his excitement and are often spurred to release enthusiastic shouts of praise and approval at his live performances. 

But don’t take my word for it, come and see for yourself.

North Dakota Humanities Council Lecturer Frank X. Walker will perform a reading of his favorite works on Thursday, March 25, at 8:00 p.m. in the UND Memorial Union Ballroom. Additional information about Walker’s work is available at http://www.frankxwalker.com/.

~Brock Berglund is an undergraduate English major at the University of North Dakota.

Deena Larsen

Referring to herself as a new media addict, rather than author or artist, Deena Larsen has created an online “webshelf” full of full of electronic literature to feed the genre’s growing following.

Larsen is an author of hypertext fiction, which completely alters the linear manner that a Western reader interacts with a work of traditional literature. In Larsen’s webshelf, a reader could find anything from poetry that the reader controls by clicking the mouse to reveal the next line, to works of fiction that have a video game-like interface. Regardless of how it is displayed, all of Larsen’s pieces are interactive.

Each piece is complex, with multiple, intertwining layers of interpretation that could engross a reader for hours. Since the genre is fairly new, most works of electronic literature come with no cheat codes or users’ manuals, leaving the reader to navigate the piece unassisted. Acknowledging this on her website, Larsen playfully warns her readers that reading electronic literature can cause a “longing for tools that do not exist yet.”

A native of Denver, Colorado, Larsen began creating hypertext fiction in 1988.  Her works helped pioneer the field of new media and have been taught in several university and school systems worldwide. In addition, Larsen is actively involved in the development of workshops for aspiring new media writers.

Larsen is also committed to explaining the emerging world of electronic literature to a general audience. As she explains, “electronic literature isn’t just bling—it is literature that uses electronic elements as an integral part of the work to convey meanings in ways never before possible.” While at the Writers Conference, she “will introduce you to this magical, marvelous, majestic world of possible meanings.”

Deena Larsen will deliver her lecture “Link Spot Link!” on Tuesday, March 23, at 4 p.m. in the UND Memorial Union Lecture Bowl.  Her work is freely available online at http://www.deenalarsen.net/.

~Kaitlin Ring is an undergraduate English major at the University of North Dakota.

Nick Montfort

It is not unusual for participants in the UND Writers Conference to hold advanced degrees in Literature or Creative Writing; however, Nick Montfort may be the only author ever in the 40 plus year history of the Conference also to hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science.
An Associate Professor of Digital Media at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Montfort specializes in writing/programming “interactive fiction,” such as “Winchester’s Nightmare: A Novel Machine and Mystery House Taken Over.”  Although some critics are skeptical that text adventure games should be considered literature, Montfort argues for their inclusion.

Montfort’s critical work includes “Twisty Little Passages,” which provides a history of interactive fiction beginning with “Adventure” and its precursors (including “Dungeons and Dragons”) and continues through “Zork,” as well as “Racing the Beam,” which looks at the ancestry of the Atari Video Computer System, including “Pong” and “Pac-Man.” His opinions are so well-known and respected in his field that he is featured in a new documentary on the subject, “Get Lamp: The Text Adventure Documentary,” which will premiere in Boston immediately following his appearance at the UND Writers Conference.

During the Writers Conference, Montfort will ask that we consider how “computer/video games” could also be literature. This question will likely upset some, delight others, but will inevitably spark lively discussion and help us to “mind the gap.”

Nick Montfort will give a public reading on Thursday, March 25, at 4 p.m. in the UND Memorial Lecture Bowl.  His works are freely available online at http://nickm.com/.

Zeitgeist

For over thirty years, St. Paul-based new music ensemble Zeitgeist has been presenting works of substance with passion and integrity.  At the UND Writers Conference, Zeitgeist will perform “Shape Shifting: Shades of Transformation,” a multimedia tour de force featuring the music of Scott Miller, the poetry of Phillippe Costaglioli, and the video of Ron Gregg.  Zeitgeist features Heather Barringer and Patti Cudd on percussion, Shannon Wettstein on piano, and Pat O’Keefe on woodwinds, with Phillippe Costaglioli, voice, and Scott Miller on computer. The music for “Shape Shifting” was commissioned by Zeitgeist through a grant underwritten by the American Composers Forum with funds from the Jerome Foundation and through the Zeitgeist Commissioning Collective.

“Shape Shifting” is based on nine poems by Costaglioli that range in subject matter from the paintings of Paul Cèzanne to life, death, and spirituality. The musical experience created by Miller and Zeitgeist is aptly described by Juliet Patterson in a June 9, 2004 review from mnartists.org: “‘Shape Shifting’ immerses the listener in a lush electronic environment with which the musicians of Zeitgeist dialogue, influencing Miller’s environment as they respond to it. Miller uses a KYMA system to electronically manipulate and timbrally extend the live performer’s instruments, shaping the performances of the ensemble through the combination of improvisation and real-time processing.” The concert promises to be a feast for the senses, and not to be missed.

Zeitgeist will perform on Saturday, March 27, at 8 p.m. in the Josephine Campbell Recital Hall on the UND Campus.
~Dr. Michael Wittgraf is the Chair of the UND Department of Music.

Mark Amerika

Mark Amerika might best be described as an interdisciplinary artist, and though the term is absolutely appropriate, it also seems to do the man a preposterous injustice. In fact, to define his work according to conventional genre seems absurd; we might as well agree to call Flaubert a “literary stylist.” After receiving an MFA from Brown University, Amerika published two groundbreaking novels, “The Kafka Chronicles” and “Sexual Blood.” Each achieved cult status and marked the author’s shift towards more innovative uses of form and function, much of which is actually hard to even explain in Times New Roman.

What Mark Amerika does best is defy categorization—that and keep the art coming. He was fittingly named a Time Magazine 100 Innovator, no small feat for a new age artisan working with an appropriated old school medium. His digital artwork has been shown at museums around the world, and he’s garnered commissions from the Walker Art Center, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, IBM, Sony PlayStation, and the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts.
But he might be best known in the literary community for his creation of GRAMMATRON. The Village Voice has called it “…the first major Internet-published work of fiction to produce an experience unique to the medium,” while The New York Times touches a prophetic nerve in suggesting that “GRAMMATRON is grappling with the idea of spirituality in the electronic age.”

He followed this enormous success with PHON:E:ME, an mp3 concept album, and FILMTEXT, which premiered in London as part of his HOW TO BE AN INTERNET ARTIST retrospective. In short, Mark Amerika is a true pioneer in digital media, the kind of artist who may very well be reinventing the wheel in the time it takes the rest of us to look up and take notice. 
Mark Amerika will give a public reading on Wednesday, March 24, at 4 p.m. in the UND Memorial Union Lecture Bowl.

~Brian Maxwell is a Ph.D. Candidate in English at the University of North Dakota.

Saul Williams

Saul Williams (http://www.saulwilliams.com/) writes of himself: “Who I am and what I do seems to vary by mod, mood, and mode of expression. I write. I act. I perform. Most of the labels that are projected onto me are seldom how I would choose to refer to myself. Yet, regardless of how much I might dodge classification, the one label I tote freely is that of being an artist. And it is the art of self expression that has heightened my experience on this planet and fueled my understanding of love, compassion, and humanity.”

Williams has published four books of poetry: “The Seventh Octave” (1998), “She” (1999),  “Said the Shotgun to the Head” (2003) and “The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop” (2006). He is a former Grand Slam Champion and was featured on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam.”  “I write poetry,” Williams states, “because it is the clearest and most direct expression of how I think.” This clarity and directness runs through Williams’ poetry, “only through new words might new worlds be called into order.”

As an actor, Williams has performed in theatre, television, and film. He held a recurring role on UPN’s “Girlfriends.” In 1998, he co-wrote and starred in the film “Slam,” which won the Camera d’Or and the Prix du Public awards at the Cannes Film Festival and also received the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize. He feels that his acting allows for his best insight into the human nature.

Williams has released four albums, with plans to begin recording a fifth in March. His latest, “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!” (2008), was recorded with and produced by Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor and can be described as hip-hop/rock with lyrics that are both aggressive and expressive.

Williams has said of hip hop that “when the beat drops, people nod their heads, ‘yes,’” the same is true of his performances, as his powerful poetry speaks to the heart and moves the mind. His appearance at the UND Writers Conference is not to be missed.

The Multicultural Awareness Committee Performance by Saul Williams is Friday, March 26, at 8 p.m. in the Chester Fritz Auditorium.

~Ricky Dombovy is a Masters student of English at the University of North Dakota.

Art Spiegelman

The legendary Art Spiegelman is largely responsible for the new recognition of comics as a serious fine art and literary medium. Spiegelman’s highly acclaimed memoir, “Maus,” received a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, becoming the first and only graphic novel ever to win the award. The two-part “Maus” series draws upon the experiences of Spiegelman’s father, a Holocaust survivor. Just as the Nazis persecuted Jewish people as “vermin,” Spiegelman’s “Maus” symbolically depicts Nazis as cats and Jews as mice.

Spiegelman learned to read through comics, thus beginning his lifelong devotion to them. He was drawing professionally by age 16 and graduated from art school despite his parents’ initial wishes that he become a dentist. He became a leading figure in the countercultural underground comix scene of the 1960s and 1970s and worked for The New Yorker over a period of ten years. He frequently collaborates with his wife, artist and art editor Françoise Mouly. He is now an advisor for her line of hardbound comics for kids, the TOON Books.

Spiegelman is the creator of several comic works for children, including “Open Me, I’m a Dog” and the “Little Lit” anthologies. His works for adults include “Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!” and “In the Shadow of No Towers,” a graphic novel retelling of the September 11 attacks. He is a passionate advocate of the comic as a literary art form. As Spiegelman explains, “good comics make an impression that lasts forever.

“A Conversation with Presidential Lecturer Art Spiegelman” will take place on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the UND Chester Fritz Auditorium.

~Meg Brown is an undergraduate English major at the University of North Dakota.