Festival of Faith and Writing begins tomorrow

Calvin College will welcome nearly 100 authors and about 1,900 readers, writers and other literary enthusiasts to campus for the biennial Festival of Faith and Writing, held Thursday through Saturday, April 19-21, 2012.
The 2012 Festival features a line-up of highly acclaimed authors and speakers, including Marilynne Robinson, the author of three highly regarded novels and several notable works of non-fiction. One of her novels, "Gilead," won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, and "Home" received the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Jonathan Safran Foer and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will also be presenting at the Festival. Both Foer and Adichie were featured in the New Yorker's 2010 summer fiction issue of '20 Under 40,' which showcases twenty young writers who capture the inventiveness and vitality of contemporary American fiction.
Foer is the author of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," which was adapted for the big screen and was nominated this year for Best Picture. Adichie is the author of "Half of a Yellow Sun," which was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Prominent activist Shane Claiborne and Newbery Honor Award-winning author and Calvin College professor Gary Schmidt will also give plenary addresses at Festival 2012.
The Festival, which began in 1990, provides an opportunity for both established and up-and-coming writers to talk about how issues of faith play into their writing. Festival director Shelly LeMahieu Dunn says this dialogue is a distinguishing feature of the conference.
"We are interested in each speaker's take on what it means to be a writer of faith or a writer who is interested in issues of belief or spirituality," said LeMahieu Dunn. "And for many of them, they have not been asked that before. They often relish the opportunity to talk openly about something like this."
In addition to the five plenary addresses and dozens of breakout sessions, Festival attendees will also have an opportunity to view the work of graphic novelist Craig Thompson in the Calvin College Center Art Gallery, attend a concert by Canadian music legend Bruce Cockburn and see Walter Wangerin Jr.'s "Book of the Dun Cow" brought to the stage by the Calvin Theatre Company.
For more information on Festival 2012, visit www.calvin.edu/festival or contact the Festival office at 616-526-6770.
If you are interested in covering Festival 2012, please e-mail Matt Kucinski at msk23@calvin.edu by the end of the day on Wednesday to request a media pass.
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Matt Kucinski
Media Relations Manager
Calvin College
msk23@calvin.edu
616.526.8935 (office)
616.307.7429 (cell)
Received on Wed Apr 18 09:15:50 2012