Rosalyn Story, Will Clarke, Roderick “RockBaby” Goudy, William Virgil Davis

Rosalyn Story is a Dallas resident who has published both fiction and nonfiction, including “And So I Sing: African American Divas of Opera and Concert” (Warner), which was adapted for the PBS program “Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: A History of Blacks in Opera.” Story is also a long-time violinist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Her first novel, “More Than You Know” (Agate Publishing), earned critical acclaim, and her new novel, “Wading Home” (Agate Publishing) is set in post-Katrina Louisiana. 

Rock Baby has appeared twice on HBO’s Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam and has won several local, regional and national performance poetry competitions. He is viewed as a natural performer who also does comedy and theater. He organizes the Dallas Poetry Slam that host local performance poetry competition and coaches a team that competes nationally. He teaches creative writing for after school programs in DISD, RISD and Desoto ISD. He also is an active member on the African American Impact Committee (AAIC).” and curates the WordSpace/Dallas Slam Featured Reader Series.

Will Clarke is an American novelist who is the author of Lord Vishnu’s Love Handles: A Spy Novel (sort of) and The Worthy: A Ghost’s Story.
A native of Shreveport, Louisiana,  Clarke originally self-published both books via the Internet and independent books stores like Book Soup in Los Angeles, BookPeople in Austin, and Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle. Clarke’s books eventually became underground hits in the early part of the 2000s. He later republished the books in hardback with Simon & Schuster and sold the movie rights to Hollywood. Both books have been selected as The New York Times Editors’ Choice while Clarke was named the “Hot Pop Prophet” by Rolling Stone magazine in 2006. He is also the author of the controversial essay,  ”How to Kill A Boy That Nobody Likes” which was published in the Free Press Anthology, When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School.
Will Clarke is known for using the supernatural (a psychic dot-com millionaire and the ghost of a dead frat boy) to trick the cynical eye into seeing the madness of the mundane.

William Virgil Davis has published poems in many magazines. His books of poetry are: One Way to Reconstruct the Scene, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets award; The Dark Hours, which won the Calliope Press Chapbook Prize; and Winter Light. He has also published short stories and several books of literary criticism. He is an English Professor at Baylor University. His latest collection recently won the Texas Institute of Letters Best Poetry Collection.

Curated and Hosted by Dr. Martha Heimberg

Poetry Workshop - fourth Sunday

Christoper Soden writes:

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, our next poet’s workshop should be 1PM, May 30th, the 4th Sunday in May, at a private residence. We bring copies of our poems, and discuss them, in the traditional approach, i.e. let the group extrapolate what they can before the writer reveals intent. We are a burgeoning group of dedicated, avid, intelligent, tactful writers who are trying to learn from each other and grow as craftsmen of poetry. We need others of the same inclination and welcome them. Contact christophersoden@sbcglobal.net for more information.

SMU Literary Festival

Thursday, April 22

6:00 PM - Gilbert Lecture Reception, Texana Room, DeGolyer Library

6:30 PM - Readings by fiction writer Jill McCorkle
Stanley Marcus Reading Room, DeGolyer Library
Cosponsored with Lit Fest

Friday, April 23

3:00 PM - Reading by fiction writers Elizabeth Eslami and Robert Redick
Stanley Marcus Reading Room

6:30 PM - Reception, Texana Room

7:00 PM - Reading by fiction and nonfiction writers Tracy Daugherty and Marjorie Sandor
Stanley Marcus Reading Room

Saturday, April 24
12:00 – 2:00 PM - Luncheon with the authors
Participate in discussion, meet and congratulate the winners of SMU’s undergraduate writing prizes.
Hughes Trigg Student Center
Promenade A and B
RSVP required - RSVP to 214-768-2945 or smulitfest@gmail.com

2:00 PM - Reading by poet Mary Stewart Hammond and fiction writer Robin Black
Stanley Marcus Reading Room

8:30 PM - Closing Caberet: Stomping at the Grand Terrace with Philip S. Bryant and Carolyn Wilkins
The Varsity, Hughes Trigg Student Center