Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information  Office
                                           publicinfor@selu.edu
                                           SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 3/13/00
      Contact:                           Carol Dotson 22
 TENNESSEE WILLIAMS FESTIVAL AUTHOR VISITS SLU
     HAMMOND  Author and Tennessee Williams Festival participant Tom Franklin will
visit the Southeastern campus for two days, Monday, March 20, and Tuesday, March 21. 
Franklin will give a public reading at 7:30 p.m., March 20 in the Visual Arts Center (formerly
the Bookstore) in East Stadium and speak with creative writing classes Tuesday, March 21. He
will also be available to students in the Writing Center in D Vickers Hall. His visit is sponsored
by the Southeastern Arts and Lectures committee. 
     Southeastern is a sponsor of the Tennessee Williams French Quarter Literary Conference
which will be held March 22-24 in New Orleans. According to Southeastern English faculty
member Jack Bedell, Southeastern is working to bring the festival to the campus through visits
such as Franklin's. During the festival, Franklin will appear on a panel on "The Short Story: The
Part That Doesn't Show" with Southeastern English professor and author Tim Gautreaux and
author Andrew Holleran. The panel is scheduled for the Bourbon Orleans ballroom, Saturday,
March 25.   
     While at Southeastern, Franklin will discuss his recent collection of short fiction,
"Poachers," ten stories set in the backwoods country of southern Alabama.
     Franklin, a native of Dickinson, Ala., earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in
English and creative writing from the University of South Alabama, where he currently teaches. 
In 1997 he earned an master of fine arts degree from the University of Arkansas. His fiction has
appeared in numerous publications, including "The Nebraska Review" and "Alabama
Magazine."  In 1998 he was awarded the Writers at Work Literary Nonfiction prize and an
Arkansas Arts Council grant. 
    
                                                              -SLU-

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