Annual English Awards Returns To Gannon’s Campus With Special Guest Naomi Shihab Nye
Posted: March 26, 2014Gannon University will celebrate its 37Th Annual English Awards
Night Thursday, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Yehl Ballroom of the
Waldron Campus Center. Award-winning writer and poet Naomi Shihab
Nye will be the guest speaker.
English Awards Night honors the winners of national and Erie
County high school poetry contests sponsored by the University, as
well as the poetry, journalism and research writing contests for
Gannon students. The event is free and open to the public.
Nye has written or edited more than 30 books of poetry, fiction,
essays and children's books. She has been a recipient of the Lavan
Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize,
four Pushcart Prizes, two Jane Addams Children's Book Awards and
the Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature.
Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, Nye has led
workshops around the world and served in the Middle East and Asia
for the United States Information Agency, promoting international
goodwill through the arts.
Nye will also hold a seminar at 3 p.m. in Room 2200 of the A.J.
Palumbo Academic Center where she will discuss her techniques and
share strategies with attendees. This is free and open to the
public.
The new edition of Gannon's award-winning "Totem," the
student-produced literary arts magazine, will also be unveiled at
the event as well. The 2013 edition of "Totem" received two ADDY
awards, a gold ADDY for collateral material, publication
design-book design and an ADDY for printing excellence at last
week's Erie Ad Club awards show.
Berwyn Moore, professor in the English department and adviser to
"Totem," said that the event is a great way to commemorate
students' accomplishments and share in Nye's poetry.
"Students will be honored for their accomplishments in writing
poetry, journalism, and research," Moore said. "This event, which
is free and open to all, will feature a reading by Naomi Shihab
Nye, a writer who is renowned known for her generous spirit,
distinctive voice, and precis -and surprising-use of
imagery."