Thursday, April 4, 2013

2013 Scissortail: It's On!



As of 9:30 this morning, the Eighth Annual the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival is under way. If you are attending the Festival and have heard something you like, please leave a comment here so that the authors and everyone else can know what you think. Just click on the comment button below to leave a comment and read the comments left by others. And if you're not attending the Festival, come on over!



11 comments:

  1. I personally found the event to be interesting. I went to the 11:00 to 12:15 session on Thursday and I found a lot of the works interesting such as Rilla's newest novel of the plight of Mexican-American's who live in Oklahoma and the story of Lament for a Larcenist by Andrew Guyer was a good story and that I found it interesting. Overall I liked all of the works and found the presentation that the authors had for each work as well done and entertaining.

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  2. I went to the 2:00 set. My favorite part was listening to Steven Schroder read his,” Seven Sorrows”. I was touched by his turn of phrase.

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  3. I went to the writing festival which is really awesome!!!!I have been to Anna Myers's speech. The way she speech is really funny! She was playing the characters who is from her book. She wanted to use this way to catch people's attension. I really enjoy her speech and acting. I bought one book which is named "Time of The Witches". From her recommendation of this book, I think it worth me to spend time to read it.

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  4. Every year the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival amazes me. I'm incredibly sad that I missed a few of the Thursday sessions (Kaitlyn, I'm incredibly jealous that you got to take part in the awesomeness of Rilla Askew; she was amazing last year!) I was lucky enough this year to listen to Mr. Andrew Hudgins. Hudgins read some of his more autobiographical stories of learning about sexuality through the use of jokes (the dog on the railroad track is a joke I will be telling for years to come). As I listened and laughed, I realized how much his accounts of learning about the birds and the bees were similar to my own. I love when I can relate someone else's words back to my own personal accounts. As he was reading his poem about getting and giving haircuts with his dad, I could picture the scene he was able to paint with his words. Hudgins kept me laughing while I sat there realizing how much we had in common (my dad was a penny-pincher, too!). I hope to see more of Hudgins, and I'm looking forward to his newest release!
    All-in-all, the presenters this year were amazing. Constance Squires had me saying, "Oh, my. My mother-in-law did the SAME thing to me when I was feeding my children!" and Rayshell Clapper had me holding back tears. . . again (if you read this, PLEASE compile your two short stories. I. Will. Buy. It!) Nathan Brown and Jim Spurr had me giggling again this year, and I couldn't resist buying Tulsa Burning for my children after the show Anna Myers put on. Everything was wonderful again, and to the authors I didn't mention: I want you all to know that you ALL did a great job. It was fantastic, and I enjoyed every minute of your presentations!
    Well Done!!

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  5. Hi! I attended the 2:00 session in the Estep Center and had the privilege of hearing some talented writers share some of their work. I was truly satisfied with the session as I have never experienced anything like it. It was a first time thing for me to listen to legitimate writers show what they've created. My favorite part was listening to either Mark Vinz or Clarence Wolfshohl speak. I can't rember which one of the two spoke but I know the names of the two because they composed "In Harm's Way" together as a compilation of poetry regarding their childhoods. The reason his portion was my favorite because he spoke of classic Mexican food in one of his readings that just really made me miss home. I will definitely be apart of this event next year.

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  6. Andrew Geyer, Ben Myers, and Rilla Askew provided excellent presentations of their works at the first session I attended, but I also had the pleasure of listening in on Terri Tucker and Nathan Brown’s readings. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the presentations, which is partially due to the familiarity and love for the West that I have developed in my Literature of the American West course with Dr. Hada this semester. I noticed a strong characterization of the landscape, people, and lifestyle typical in the West(ern), but each representation of the West was made unique by the different authors as well. The experience at Scissortail took my knowledge learned in class and made it more applicable to real-life sitautions. Kudos! - Noelle Hurt, East Central University Senior

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  7. Out of all of the works that I heard, Benjamin Meyers "Spookhouse" remains my favorite for its use of vivid and dark imagery to describe something we usually consider as fun, bright, and colorful: A fair. Also, this poem put everything into such blunt but true terms that I could not help but love it. As for authors I enjoyed the most, my pick would be Askew on her work about the mistreatment of Hispanic citizens under the acts meant to stop illegal immigration. Another poem I liked was Stephanie's Franklin's "Illuminence" since it took the reader on a mental journey to a land so different and hard to describe, but yet she managed to do so.

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  8. Scissortail was very cool; I regret that I didn't make it to more of the sessions, as I'm sure there were many great authors and poets who I missed out on. I think Constance Squires excerpt and short story she read were incredible. She managed to pack a lot of suspense and imagery into relatively simple pieces, and also work in backstory alongside current events. Just wish I hadn't missed Jim Spurr, his poetry reading last year was an awesome event and I very much wanted to here more of his work. Hopefully next year. Hope the jazz band makes a return appearance at One Page next year as well!

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  9. The two secessions I attended were great. My favorite part was Alan Berecka's poetry readings. His quote "Poetry is Irreverence" was reflect in some of the better pieces.

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  10. I thoroughly enjoyed the readings I was able to attend this year. Constance Squire's short story was incredible. She managed to keep the suspense going through both of her pieces while still cracking a joke every now and then. I always regret not having the attended more sessions I'm sure I missed so much.

    One Page was also delightful! I loved listening to the jazz bands while roaming the artwork.

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  11. This was my first year to attend the scissor tail festival and it was a very good experience. I listen to several different people tell stories from their past, about the state of Oklahoma, and even things that they made up. Dorthy Alexander was my favorite lady of the day to listen to. Everything she said had me rolling in my chair laughing so hard. She wasn't afraid to say whatever was on my mind and I like that. This is an event that I will come back to next year and years later to listen to these readers.

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