Bad Timing

Rick Robbins recently sent out an e-mail regarding the University of North Dakota's 2008 Writers Conference. Some of the artists that will be reading/speaking include Salman Rushdie, Russell Banks, and Junot Diaz. Too bad this will be taking place at the same time as the Good Thunder Eddice B. Barber Visiting Writer Program--the guest this year being Tom Franklin. I'm hoping to snag one of the workshops while he's here (not sure how or if these are difficult to obtain--awaiting another mass e-mail from Rick).

I'm convinced that Columbia College in Chicago and MSU don't consult each other when drafting their schedules. Columbia's Story Week 2008 is the week after MSU's spring break, which means I'm not going to be able to see Aimee Bender, Z.Z. Packer, Christina Garcia, or Junot Diaz (again). Joyce Carol Oates was scheduled to give a reading, too, but she canceled her book tour following her husband's death. Chitra Banjeree Divakurani will be taking her place--I'm not familiar with her work, but I'm sure it the entire week will be fantastic.