Words at Play

Welcome to the 15th Annual Literary Arts Festival at Old Dominion University. In its fourteen year history, this festival has become established as one of the most important cultural events in the Hampton Roads area. We have attracted writers of national and international reputation to read from their works and share their ideas with our community, and we have tried to reward your continued attendance and support by maintaining consistently high quality and by engaging in new, exciting directions.

This year we are expanding the scope of the Literary Festival, and presenting a literature in performance festival that offers the premiere of a play written for this event, two staged readings with original scores we have commissioned, a fiction reading accompanied by original dance pieces, two one-person dramatic performances, a concert of Medieval song translations, a storyteller, the premiere of an original jazz performance, a gospel choir concert, two panel discussions, a snakehandler essayist, and over ten additional readings of poetry and fiction.

Our goals, in all these collaborative efforts, are to provide performances that will allow you to more fully appreciate the literary works, to create hybrid art forms that may offer us exciting and unique experiences, and to combine the creative talents of several departments in the College of Arts and Letters. You as our audience will decide whether we succeed or fail in our attempts, and we welcome your responses as well as your ideas. Thank you for your attendance and support in the past, and we all hope you enjoy this year’s Literary Arts Festival.

~ William Patrick, Festival Director