Saint Leo Announces Change to Authors' Visit Schedule

Update March 1, 2017: Saint Leo University has announced that its March 7 author reading by Connie T. Braun has been canceled. Braun cannot make the event due to medical reasons, the university wrote in an email to Patch. All other events outlined below remain on the schedule, including the upcoming Sandhill Writers Retreat.

Earlier: From Saint Leo University: Saint Leo University (www.saintleo.edu) is hosting readings with two visiting authors in early March, and has opened registration for its annual one-day writers program, the Sandhill Writers Retreat, on May 20. All events are at the campus at 33701 State Road 52, St. Leo, FL, 33574. Free parking is always available in the campus garage; for evening events, visitors may also use surface lots.

Wednesday, March 1, writer Dan Albergotti will read from his work from 12:30 pm. at the Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library. Admission is free and open to the public. Albergotti is the author of The Boatloads, which was selected as the winner of the 2007 A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize, and Millennial Teeth, which was selected as the winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition in 2013. A graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and former poetry editor of The Greensboro Review, he founded the online journal Waccamaw at Coastal Carolina University, where he is professor and chair of the Department of English.

This event was rescheduled from February, and is sponsored by the Department of Language Studies and the Arts. For more information, contact Gianna Russo, creative writing instructor, at gianna.russo@saintleo.edu or (352) 588-8282.

Tuesday, March 7, Canadian teacher, poet, and memoirist Connie T. Braun will read from her works from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in TECO Hall, the School of Business building. Admission is free and the public is welcome. Braun’s collection of poetry, Unspoken, and her prose narrative, The Steppes are the Colour of Sepia, each draw from her ancestors’ lives in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in the early 20th century. Her Mennonite relations in Europe were among those who endured forced relocation during a time of rising nationalism. In the resulting diaspora, Braun’s family members were among those who migrated to Canada. She has taken on the voice for previous generations who experienced loss of homeland. Braun holds degrees from Trinity Western University (TWU) in British Columbia and earned the Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

This event is sponsored by the Daniel A. Cannon Memorial Library. For more information, contact Brent Short, library director, at (352) 588-8260 or brent.short@saintleo.edu. Or contact Carol Ann Moon, outreach librarian, at (352) 588-8261 or carol.moon@saintleo.edu.

Saturday, May 20, all who enjoy writing are urged to take part in the fifth annual Sandhill Writers Retreat from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The one-day retreat is an opportunity to enjoy workshops with visiting authors and members of university’s creative writing faculty in a serene setting and at modest cost. The retreat will offer 13 hands-on writing classes in fiction, nonfiction, journalism, poetry, spoken word, and writing for veterans. There will be an optional open-reading time for participants at lunchtime, and a faculty reading and book signing session later in the day. Registration for members of the general public is $85. Teachers, non-Saint Leo students, and senior citizens will be admitted for $65. Registration is only $25 for veterans and active-duty military, and Saint Leo students, faculty, and staff. A box lunch will also be available for purchase or participants may bring their own.

Regular registration closes May 12. Late registrants pay an additional fee. A limited number of one-on-one manuscript consultations will also be available for an additional fee of $75 to writers who provide up to 10 pages of work (fiction, nonfiction, or poetry) for review by May 1.

More information on the retreat faculty and overall registration instructions are available athttp://www.saintleo.edu/academics/schools/school-of-arts-sciences/the-sandhill-writers-retreat.aspx. All other questions should be addressed to Creative Writing Instructor and Sandhill Retreat Director Gianna Russo at gianna.russo@saintleo.edu or (352) 588-8282.

Photo Courtesy of Saint Leo University