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January 17, 2006 Volume 30, Issue 18 |
Work by MSU prof featured at state confab
Some 80 literary educators and other lovers of the language arts are expected to attend the annual conference of the Mississippi Philological Association.
To be held at Mississippi State Jan. 27 and 28, the gathering will include presentations on such topics as literature, folklore, film, and other subjects of related professional interest. Organizers of this year’s program have encouraged entries on contemporary fiction and poetry.
A public portion of the conference will involve the reading of “Fleur Carnivore,” an award-winning poetic manuscript by MSU English professor Richard Lyons. To begin at 7 p.m. on the 27th, Lyons’ presentation in Simrall Hall auditorium is open to all.
Lyons directs the university’s creative writing program. His full-length manuscript was honored with the 2005 Washington Prize, a national literary award established in 1981 to recognize outstanding contemporary American poetry.
Selected by competition judges from more than 340 other entries, “Fleur Carnivore” features meditations on Eastern philosophy, African-American jazz and modern paintings, among other subjects. Included are examinations of the lives and works of Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Francis Bacon, Paul Klee, and other artists.
The MPA conference is being directed by Dr. Noel Polk, Lyon’s English department colleague and editor of the MSU-based Mississippi Quarterly, a 58-year-old scholarly journal dedicated to Southern life and culture.