VLP Open-Mic / Poetry Slam Oct. 31st at Coffee Shop Gallery

The Vermillion Literary Project is hosting a combination open-mic reading and poetry slam on Halloween (Thursday, Oct. 31) beginning at 7 p.m. at the Coffee Shop Gallery, 24 W. Main Street, Vermillion. Everyone is invited to participate or simply come and listen.

From 7 to 8 p.m., the VLP will feature the open-mic reading. Writers are invited to share their poems, short-short stories, and other creative works. Beginning writers and those who prefer a non-competitive venue will welcome the open-mic.

Beginning at 8 p.m., the VLP will host its first ever poetry slam, a competition for poets. Each poet who signs up to read will have three minutes in which to recite an original poem. The poems will be scored by a set of five judges, with the highest and lowest scores thrown out and the remaining scores added together. If there are enough poets, the top-scoring poets will participate in another round until a winning poet emerges.

For more information about the Vermillion Literary Project, visit www.usd.edu/~projlit.
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 9:30 AM

Susan Wolfe will present "Where No (Hu)man Has Gone Before: Gendered Bodies and Synthetic Persons in Star Trek" on November 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Frankenfield A&B of the Coyote Student Center.
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 9:23 AM

Writer Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve will visit campus November 13. She will present a reading and discussion of "The Trickster and the Troll" from 9 to 9:50 a.m. in the Lincoln-Roosevelt Rooms of the Coyote Student Center. She will present a reading and discussion of "Completing the Circle" from 2 to 2:50 p.m. in Farber Hall.

This event is sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, USD English Department, Institute of American Indian Studies, and the IdEA program. Free and open to the public.
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 9:21 AM

Jan Hausmann, PhD student, will be presenting "Meeting of the Disciplines: Music Structures in Hemingway's Early Fiction" at a colloquium on November 1 at 3:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Room of the Coyote Student Center. Everyone is welcome.
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 9:15 AM

Eileen Sullivan, who teaches courses in the Contemporary Media and Journalism Department at USD, will present a paper and read her poetry at the 2002 Midwest Regional Conference of the American Conference for Irish Studies October 24-26 in St. Louis, Missouri.

On Saturday, October 26, Sullivan will present her paper entitled “William Kennedy and Journalism as Literary Inroad In Irish-America.” She will also read poetry at a special Irish American poets session of writers who published in Natural Bridge, a national literary journal published at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 9:18 PM

Ed Allen wins short fiction award with Ate It Anyway story collection

Writer and USD English professor Ed Allen was named one of two winners in this year's Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction for his short-story collection, Ate It Anyway. This award, sponsored by the University of Georgia Press, was named for writer Flannery O'Connor; it is given to the best book-length short fiction collection submitted during the competition period.

Allen has plans to visit Georgia in November to receive the award, see O'Connor's hometown of Milledgeville, and give a reading of his work. Next year, the University of Georgia Press will publish his award-winning manuscript.
posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 8:23 AM

VLP Annual Short Story Contest Sat. Oct. 26th at USD

The Vermillion Literary Project is sponsoring their sixth annual short story contest. First place will automatically be published in the 2003 VLP literary magazine and receive $100. Second place will also be published in the magazine. Everyone is welcome to participate, including members of the USD community and the general public.

The contest will be held in the McKusick Technology Center (Arts and Sciences building, west of the tennis courts, on the USD campus in Vermillion), in room #101, from 12 to 3 p.m., on Saturday, October 26th. Contestants should arrive no later than 11:45 a.m.

Is there a catch? Yes--writers must complete their stories in the designated room within three hours, at the specified time and date. In addition, a certain theme, image, or idea (which will not be announced until the contest begins) must figure prominently in the stories. Computers will be available for the writers' use, although they can also handwrite their stories.

A panel of judges consisting of USD faculty/students will read the stories and select the winners. The first- and second-place winners will be announced at the Vermillion Literary Project’s poetry reading  at the Coffee Shop Gallery, 24 W. Main Street, in Vermillion, on Thursday, October 31st (Halloween) at 7 p.m.

Registration Fees and Deadlines:

Current USD student, staff, or faculty: Pre-registration fee: $2.00; After deadline: $4.00.

General Public: Pre-registration fee: $10.00. After deadline: $12.00

To register for the VLP Short Story Contest, fill out the online form at http://www.usd.edu/~projlit/contestonlineform.html and mail a check for the correct amount made out to the Vermillion Literary Project, to: The Vermillion Literary Project, Dakota Hall #226, University of South Dakota, 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069-2390. (Checks must be postmarked by October 23rd, 2002 for on-time registration; after October 23rd, add $2 to the total amount and bring the check in person to the contest.) Locals can also register in person in the USD English Department, Dakota Hall #212. Registration fees cannot be refunded. Questions? Call 605-677-5229 or e-mail us at projlit@usd.edu.

posted by Michelle Rogge Gannon at 7:48 PM