We will have an open mic, and refreshments will be served.

Our Guest Speaker will be  Doug Rutledge, a poet and playwright.  He wrote The Somali Diaspora: A Journey Away, which was published by the University of Minnesota Press. He also wrote for the video, Women, War and Resettlement: Nasro’s Journey, which was aired on WOSU, the local PBS station.

In addition, Doug has published some poetry and reviews of poetry books.  He has a PhD in English and is currently pursuing an MFA in creative writing at Ashland University. He has also had a play performed both in Columbus and New York.

This is a public meeting, all are welcome to attend.  Please contact us if you have any questions.

Our guest speaker will be Maggie Smith, winner of The Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award and the Pudding House Chapbook Competition.  Her third book is a Wick Poetry Series Selection. Maggie is a freelance writer and editor, as well as a blogger for The Kenyon Review. She holds a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. from The Ohio State University, where she won two Academy of American Poets Prizes.

Maggie will be talking about poetry, the publishing process and also reading some of her work and answering questions. She will lead us in a writing exercise and we will have a light dinner and an open mic.

Please feel free to bring a guest to meet and listen to this award-winning poet.  You can find more information about Maggie Smith on her website, MaggieSmithPoet.com.

Our guest speaker will be Adam Hughes, Poet and author of Petrichor, released in 2010 by NYQ Books, and the forthcoming Uttering the Holy, also from NYQ Books.   Adam Hughes was born in 1982 in Lancaster, Ohio. He still resides there, working as a pastor and a program director for individuals with cognitive and physical disabilities.

Adam Hughes’ poems have appeared in the New York Quarterly, Pedestal Magazine, Barnwood Poetry Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Boston Literary Magazine, Rock and Sling, and other online and print publications.

You can find Adam Hughes on Facebook.

We will have refreshments and open mic, as well.

Professor Joan Connor, Professor of Creative Writing at Ohio University, will be our guest speaker.  Professor Joan Connor is the author of a collection of short stories entitled, How To Stop Loving Someone, Leapfrog Press, 2011.  She writes essays, short stories, journal articles and is author of the following books:  The World Before Mirrors, River Teeth award, University of Nebraska Press, 2006; History Lessons, University of Massachusetts Press, AWP Award Series in Short Fiction, 2002; We Who Live Apart, University of Missouri Press, August, 2000; Here On Old Route 7, University of Missouri Press, August, 1997.  Joan Connor’s full biography and publication credits.

Please join us on February 15, 2012.  Contact us with any questions.

Owned by Olumola Akinwunmi, the book retailer can be reached by phone at 614-327-7131 or by email at zawadibooks@yahoo.com.

Attendees of the 2011 Columbus Book Festival at the King Arts Center on October 8, 2011 had an opportunity to meet Mr. Akinwunmi and purchase books.

Thank you for supporting the 2011 Columbus Book Festival.

Patricia Lawson, author of Hard Aspects, will be a presenting author at the 2011 Columbus Book Festival at the King Arts Complex on October 8, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio.  Please join us on Saturday.  More info.

J. Peder Zane, editor of W.W. Norton’s THE TOP TEN: WRITERS PICK THEIR FAVORITE BOOKS and former member of the National Book Critics’ Circle Board of Directors (2005-2007) has this to say about HARD ASPECTS by Patricia Lawson, an e-book available through the Kindle Bookstore at Amazon.com. (Free apps for PC, Mac, IPad, Blackberry, etc.) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FCAIJQ:

“. . . . So yes, I learned a lot. But what will stay with me in the years ahead is the author’s gift for language. It is a beautifully written book with a line or phrase on almost every page that made me stop and re-read just to savor it. Keenly observed, deeply informed and lyrical, Hard Aspects is a timely, provocative novel that deserves a wide audience.”

In HARD ASPECTS, the presence of American off-shore academia in one of the fuel-propelled, rapidly developing Gulf states makes for violent culture clash. Canadian Eric James joins the army of expatriates hired to work in an Arabian Gulf city to serve the burgeoning oil economy. As dean of an American university’s new branch campus, he must extract an operating license from the local authorities. He quickly finds himself caught between his duty to his home administration, who want to cut costs and maximize profits far from stateside regulation, and his moral obligation to his students and staff. The large quantities of petrodollars in the Gulf (and the western university’s greed) leads to an inversion of values—the western university adopts eastern relativism and the easterners try to defend themselves with western absolutes.

The novel has multiple perspectives: that of James, who has just assumed his bewildering duties; his assistant dean and lover, a local-born British woman who has chosen the Arab world over England; the dean’s wife, an American free spirit who drives him mad with her philosophizing; a newly hired American art professor, who breaks every rule (and some of the laws) in this extremely conservative society; the president of the university in America, who is trying to keep his creaky organization financially afloat; and the university’s Syrian partner, whose single goal is to maximize profits. Above all, his own.

Patricia Lawson is a former science writer who turned to fiction after an eighteen-year stint overseas. HARD ASPECTS is her first e-novel.

Patricia Lawson will be presenting her books, available to sign copies and greet the pubic, at the 2011 Columbus Book Festival.  Please join us on Saturday, October 8, 2011 at the King Arts Complex.  More info.

Friedley will be available to meet the public at the 2011 Columbus Book Festival, to be held on October 8 at the King Arts Complex in Columbus, Ohio.

Clinton J. Friedley’s books include:

101 Dumb Things We Write - Get-to-the-point quickly and eliminate the “garbage” in everything you write.  Garbage is defined by these expressions:  “I want to take this opportunity,”  “per our conversation,” and “please feel free.”

“I Feel Badly and Enjoyed Myself” Do You Talk Like This? - Grammar is stated simply and interesting.  You will laugh many times. If you say, “I feel nauseous,”  “I feel badly,”  or “That is real good”—DON’T!

Easy Spelling Chart - It shows how to add suffixes to many words such as picnic, sale, commit and travel. When to use principal/principle and aid/aide, plus 40 other words.

You can find more information about Clinton J. Friedley and his books on his website, IFeelBadly.com.

Friedley will be at the 2011 Columbus Book Festival to sell his books and meet the public.  Please join us on Saturday, October 8 at the King Arts Complex in Columbus, Ohio.

CCC will be at the 2011 Columbus Book Festival on October 8, 2011 at the King Arts Complex in Columbus, Ohio.

In 2011, CCC has published two anthologies.  Origins: An Anthology features nine stories by six Central Ohio authors, and is a 5-star book on Amazon.com.  Their latest book, Overgrown: Tales of the Unexpected, features eight stories, by eight different authors.

You can find more information about their books here.

CCC also holds free, open writers’ workshops twice per month.  You can visit their website for more information: CCC Workshops.

The group is currently accepting submissions for its next anthology (more info here – deadline is 10/7/11), and holding a flash fiction contest, the prizes for which include an Amazon Kindle and $50 gift card (more info here – deadline is 09/30/11).

Please stop by the 2011 Columbus Book Festival on October 8, 2011 at the King Arts Complex to meet the editors and writers behind Columbus Creative Cooperative, purchase signed books, and find out how to get involved with this fantastic Columbus writers’ organization.

The organization publishes a twice yearly journal of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and hosts three contests: Helen Kay Chapbook (poetry, year round), Sinclair Poetry Prize (every other year, this is the year) and Grassic Short Novel Prize (new). Details at  www.EveningStreetPress.com.

Evening Street Press will be presenting their books at the 2011 Columbus Book Festival.  Please stop by to meet the editors and staff behind the organization.