It's On!

As of 9:30 this morning, the Eleventh Annual the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival is under way. If you're not here yet, come soon! We'll be here through Saturday afternoon.

From the Director: 2016

On behalf of our sponsors and the many volunteers who help make the 11^th annual Scissortail Festival possible, I welcome you to East Central University and to Ada, Oklahoma. This year we welcome 18 new voices to the program. One of my great delights is to see writers from across the country meet each other and become friends, fellow voices continuing the call for common sense and courageous virtue through the media of fiction and poetry. We also will award 8 collegiate writers from Texas and Oklahoma at the after party on Friday night. Hope you can attend. As usual, on Saturday we will award 26 high school students from over 600 entries from across the state. We salute all the teachers who make this happen!

Some things are changing at ECU. Two of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Scissortail Festival are moving on to other places. Phyllis Danley, Executive Director of the ECU Foundation, and Dr. Mark Hollingsworth, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, are leaving ECU. All of us associated with the Department of English and the festival offer a great big thank you to both of you for your wonderful support of the festival! You both will be missed.

There is much trouble in our world today. You hear, as I do, about the bombing in Belgium. And we hear about the subtle, and not-so-subtle attacks on our public school systems across the nation, the aggressive assault on general education, budget cutbacks and other misgivings about our relationship with each other in our democracy. Now, more than ever, I think we need the voices of artists reminding us to be, first of all, human, first of all, humane. I look forward to meeting each of you, hearing your presentations. I hope the artists and all the visitors have a truly fulfilling experience these three days.

I leave you with the lovely, haunting words of Jonas Zdanys, part of his poem “The White Bend of the River” from his book The Thin Light of Winter:

Time drifts past.

Only stones desire nothing.

The air is filled

with the sound of birds

murmuring of love

And despair.

See you soon!

Ken Hada

Scissortail after Dark

Scissortail after Dark

Jazz Standards by

The Moonlighters Combo

&

Awarding Winners of the Undergraduate

Creative Writing Contest

8:30 pm, Friday, April 1, 2016

(following Naomi Shihab Nye’s Evening Session on campus)

Cosponsored by Sigma Tau Delta & Literati

Directions to Ada Arts & Heritage Center, located on the corner of 14^th St. and Rennie St.

            1) From ECU campus, get on Mississippi St., turn left heading south. (Mississippi St. is immediately west of the University).

            2) Get in the right lane proceeding south to 14^th St.

            3) Turn right (west) on 14^th St., Proceed west (about 4 blocks), arrive at Rennie St.

            4) Ada Arts & Heritage Center is on the left corner of 14^th & Rennie.

            5) Parking across the street, and in the church lot adjacent to the Center.

Scissortail 2016: The Poster

Winners of the 12th Annual R. Darryl Fisher Creative Writing Contest

Poetry Winners
First Place: Sydney Campbell, "The Siren," Norman North. Teacher: Lezlie Christian
Second Place: Hayden Burleigh, "Ever," Bixby. Teacher: Mrs. Fisher
Third Place: Augusta Emmerson, "Who," Norman. Teacher: Sara Doolittle

Honorable Mention
Caitlynn Land, "A House," Purcell. Teacher: Ms. Liz Leonard
Savanah McDaniel, "Burn," Bixby. Teacher: Betty Fisher
Fabianna Chaparro, "Where Are You From (I Don't Know)?" Edmond North. Teacher: Ms. Abigail Guinn
Cheyenne Fulks, "Life," Purcell. Teacher: Ms. Leonard
Jesee Riley, "Rose," Antlers. Teacher: Ronda McCarter
Emalee Hicks, "Melodious Beauty," Vinita. Teacher: Ms. Dianna Just
Camille Hemry, "Resistance to Running," Norman. Teacher: Sara Doolittle
Sarah Turner, "Memories of Dust," Lawton. Teacher: Doc Freeman
Alyssa McLinden, "Not My Last Chance," Lawton. Teacher: Doc Freeman
Stephanie Penate, "Midnight," Norman. Teacher: Sara Doolittle

Fiction Winners
1st Place: Sadie Sieck, “Swim Time,” Norman North. Teacher: Lezlie Christian
2nd Place: Peter Biles, “The Antarctic Dream,” Latta. Teacher: Melinda Isaacs
3rd Place: Taylor Austin, “Family Tree,” Deer Creek. Teacher: Jason Stephenson

Honorable Mention
Sydney Campbell, “Lucid,” Norman North. Teacher: Lezlie Christian
Hayley Jumper, “Empty, Carbonated Silence," Claremore. Teacher: Teresa Smith
Megan Vander Bloomer, “Ode to Viceroy,” Moore. Teacher: Eileen Worthington
Brigette Drabek, “One Last Time,” Moore. Teacher: Eileen Worthington
Mary Davis, “A Cloak of Ashes,” Norman North. Teacher: Lezlie Christian
Grasyn Fuller, “Dear Miss Ruston,” Norman North. Teacher: Lezlie Christian
Willow Kirkpatrick, “The Visit,” Norman. Teacher: Sara Doolittle
Christopher Butcher, “The Selfless Quisling,” Yukon. Teacher: Cheryl Corlee
Brooke Fellows, “Vluerona,” Glenpool. Teacher: Phillip Harriman
Doris Zhou, “A Perspective on Siblinghood,” Norman. Teacher: Sara Doolittle