[NEohioPAL] National Writers Conference in Cleveland, Oct. 13, 14

[David Budin]

The Fairmount Center for the Arts presents its first national literary conference with a remarkable collection of nationally known authors, including Ron Powers (Flags of Our Fathers) and Ann Hood (The Knitting Circle).  The Fairmount Center for the Arts Writers Conference will take place Saturday and Sunday, October 13 and 14, 2007, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Mayfield Village Civic Center, 6622 Wilson Mills Road, at SOM Center Road (Rt. 91). 
   
  This conference is not only for writers; it is geared just as much toward readers. It is, as conference director Scott Lax (author of The Year That Trembled) says, “for anyone who cares about language and words.”
   
  “We have assembled a faculty of some of the finest writers and literary minds: Ron Powers, Ann Hood, Mary Doria Russell, Michael Ruhlman, Charles Michener and Peter Scott.  [See author bios below.]  Each of them has broken literary ground; each has written important works of fiction or nonfiction, or both.  Each is a gifted author who is willing to share his or her gift with writers and readers for two days.”
   
  The two-day conference will include panel discussions, readings, lectures and question-and-answer sessions. Continental breakfast, snacks and lunch will be provided both days.  The fee is $295 for adults, and $195 for students with a valid student I.D.  It is open to the public and no submissions are required.  Seating is limited.
   
  Please visit http://www.fairmountcenter.org/wcflyer.pdf for more details and sign-up information.  Or call 440-338-3171 for reservations. 
   
   
  THE AUTHORS
   
   
  Ron Powers won a Pulitzer Prize and an Emmy Award. He is the co-author of The New York Times #1 best-selling book, Flags of Our Fathers, which is now a major motion picture.   A leading expert on Mark Twain, featured on Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on Twain, Powers is author of the critically acclaimed Mark Twain: A Life, and 11 other books, including the recent release, Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship (Crown).  Powers has written for many publications, such as The Atlantic Monthly and GQ, and is a frequent book reviewer for The New York Times Book Review.  
   
  Ann Hood is the author of the current best-selling, critically acclaimed novel, The Knitting Circle (Norton), which has been called “A heartbreaker” by Vanity Fair magazine.  She is the author of 10 other books of fiction and nonfiction, including Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine, and her recent essays and short stories have appeared in Good Housekeeping, The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, Ploughshares, O magazine and The Paris Review.  Hood is the recipient of a Best American Spiritual Writing Award, The Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction, and two Pushcart Prizes. 
   
  Michael Ruhlman is the Cleveland-based author of eight nonfiction books, including The Soul of a Chef, and the co-author of four cookbooks.  His writing – on a wide variety of subjects, from heart surgery to boys’ schools to wooden boat making to the art of cooking and food – has been highly praised in such periodicals as Publisher’s Weekly, The New York Times Book Review and The Boston Herald, which called Walk on Water, his book on heart surgery, “Astonishing
thrilling
incredible.”  
   
  Mary Doria Russell, another Cleveland author, wrote three critically acclaimed novels that struck a deep chord with readers for their respectful but unblinking consideration of fundamental religious questions.  Her work has been recognized with nine national and international literary awards.  The Sparrow and Children of God remain steady best sellers, translated into a dozen languages.  In 2005, Thread of Grace (Random House) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  The San Francisco Chronicle said of her work: “Brilliant... Powerful... Russell is an outstanding natural storyteller whose remarkable wit, erudition, and dramatic skills keep us turning the pages in excitement and anticipation.”                                              
  
  Peter Scott, who teaches at Hawken School, is the author of one history and three novels, including the recently published Barter Island (Down East Books), which has been praised by legendary fiction writer Tim O’Brien as “tender, funny, sad and scary, and boy oh boy does Scott nail the setting.”  The Boy Who Came Walking Home and Something in the Water, which the Boston Globe called “A thoroughly engaging novel,” are prequels to Barter Island, and all of them deal with themes of war and peace.
   
  Charles Michener is the former senior editor of The New Yorker, for which he still writes; his article “The Clevelanders” was a vibrant portrait of The Cleveland Orchestra. Michener is also former senior editor of Newsweek, and writes about the arts for The New York Observer.  A former Peace Corps worker in Ethiopia, Michener is the author of numerous books about the arts, including co-authoring Ghost of a Chance, with Peter Duchin; The Kid Stays in the Picture; with Robert Evans; and The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera, with Joseph Volpe.  Michener, who lives in New York City and Cleveland, is currently writing a book about the reinvention of northeast Ohio, to be published by Knopf. 
   
  Scott Lax’s novel, The Year The Trembled, was called “articulate with passion,
  humor and heartbreak” by the Midwest Book Review, and one of 1998’s “Milestones in Fiction” by The Denver Post.  With Tyler Davidson, he produced the feature film based on his novel, which is in worldwide release on DVD; he then adapted it for the stage.
  Lax was a 1993 Scholar in Nonfiction at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and a 1998 Fellow in Fiction at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, as well as the recipient of four first-place film festival awards in 2002.  Lax, who lives in Chagrin Falls, is senior writer for Northern Ohio Live magazine and teaches writing at The Fairmount Center for the Arts, and the Wildacres Writers’ Workshop in North Carolina. 
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