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indicates video available2011: (Inter)National Affairs
42nd annual writers conference
Reading: Carl Phillips
| Date | Mar 29th, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 52:30 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
Carl Phillips reads what he describes as a “mashup” of poetry from his books Speak Low and Double Shadow, as well as new unpublished poems. Selected poems include “The Life You Save,” “Speak Low,” “Shimmer,” “Mirror, Window, Mirror,” “Conquest,” “Almost Tenderly,” “Surrounded as we are, Unlit, Unshadowed,” “Fascination,” “Storm,” “The Need for Dreaming,” “Sacrifice is a Different Animal Altogether,” “So the Mind Like a Gate Swings Open,” “Sky Coming Forward,” “Civilization,” “Heaven and Earth,” “Immaculate Each Leaf, and Every Flower,” “Dominion,” “But Waves, They Scatter,” and “Silver Chest.” In a question and answer session following his reading, Phillips reads a poem entitled “Coin of the Realm” from his book of the same name.
Reading: Amoussa Koriko
| Date | Mar 29th, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 67:18 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
This audiovisual recording features Amoussa Koriko’s reading, a reading of his play, “Night Shadow,” a piece about the connection a pair makes amidst war and violence in Africa. In a question and answer session after the play, Koriko discusses the events the play was based on, the various languages and translations of the play, the content of his work, the process of writing “Night Shadow.”
Reading: Loida Maritza Pérez
| Date | Mar 30th, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | restricted content, digitization planned |
| Run time | 54:13 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
Loida Maritza Pérez’s reading is featured in this audiovisual recording. She begins by discussing the perspectives in her novel Geographies of Home and discusses how her Dominican background influenced her writing. Pérez reads chapter seven from the novel, which she reveals was how she started the novel, thinking she would be writing a short story. Pérez also discusses the inspiration behind the chapter and responses to her work. She answers audience questions about writing technique, specifically her technique in Geographies of Home that takes on the perspective of many narrators and points of view. Pérez also provides historical in5ion about her birthplace, the Dominican Republic. She also discusses the relation between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and specifically mentions the Haitian Massacre of 1937. She mentions some might be familiar with the event from Edwidge Dantica’s book The Farming of Bones. She also discusses her family’s personal relationship with the history of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as the countries’ cultural histories.
Presentation: Matthew Sienkiewicz
| Date | Mar 30th, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 48:41 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
Matthew Sienkiewicz gives a presentation discussing the inspiration and production of his film, Live from Bethlehem. He discusses the role language, culture, and his Jewish heritage played in the filmmaking process. He discusses the physical and cultural difficulties of filming in the Middle East. He reflects on the process and discusses what he learned from filming. In discussing the plot of Live from Bethlehem, he warns of a spoiler alert. Sienkiewicz also discusses his current projects, which primarily consists of his dissertation, a project about Palestinian car racing, and a documentary about Erik Buell Racing, an American motorcycle designer and manufacturer based in Wisconsin.
Panel: Lost in Translation?
| Date | Mar 30th, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 58:43 minutes |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
This audiovisual recording features a panel discussion that took place on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, covering the theme “Lost in Translation?” The panel is moderated by Dr. Michael Beard of the UND Department of English. Panel members include Amoussa Koriko, Russell Valentino, and Carl Phillips. Beard mentions Koriko’s plays, When the Bird Flies, Night Shadow, and Bamako, a book Valentino worked on translating, Anima Mundi, and a book Phillips worked on translating, Double Shadow, as well as his translation of the works of Sophocles. Valentino mentions his experience with the first book he translated, Materada by Italian author Fulvio Tomizza. Phillips discusses the process for translating Sophocles plays and Horace’s Odes. The panel members discuss how they began translating, their relationship with works they translate and their own original works, what it’s like to read previous translations of works by other translators, the balance between creating an accurate translation and inserting the translator’s voice, how to deal with idioms and indirect translations, what – if anything – is lost in translation, as well as how to compensate for any loss how to translate for specific audiences, and which translators’ works they enjoy.
Reading: Maxine Hong Kingston
| Date | Mar 31st, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 69:50 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
Maxine Hong Kingston discusses and reads excerpts from her new book, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, written entirely in verse form. The book is a memoir of Kingston’s life, featuring reflections upon turning 65. Excerpts she reads from I Love a Broad Margin to My Life include the book’s beginning, a portion from seven days before her 65th birthday, from a peace march, about the end of her mother’s life, and the last lines from the book. Kingston also mentions that her new book gave her the opportunity to finish some stories from books she’d written previously, including “No Name Woman” from The Woman Warrior. She reads the excerpts from I Love a Broad Margin to My Life that finishes the story. Kingston also discusses the writing processes for her books Tripmaster Monkey, The Woman Warrior, and I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, which she explains the plot structure for, as well. In a question and answer session after the reading, Kingston talks about the influence of other writers, including Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau, on her work. Additionally, she discusses the inspiration behind her book Hawai’i One Summer.
Reading: Sean Mclain Brown and Jim Castellanos
| Date | Mar 31st, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 69:38 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
This audiovisual recording features readings by Jim Castellanos and Sean Mclain Brown, contributing writers to the 42nd Annual UND Writers Conference, which took place on Thursday March 31, 2011. Both authors contributed to an anthology edited by Maxine Hong Kingston entitled Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. Dr. Sheryl O’Donnel of the UND English Department introduces the reading, mentioning a book by local author and Iraq war veteran Nick Maurstad, Bristol’s Bastards: In Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 136th Infantry of Minnesota’s National Guard. Jim Castellanos, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, reads an excerpt from his essay “Voluntary Disarmament in Iraq” featured in Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. Disabled former Marine and member of Maxine Hong Kingston’s Veterans’ Writing Group Sean Mclain Brown reads “Spin Drift,” a short fiction piece featured in Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. Brown also reads two excerpts from his book Shrapnel that were inspired by other authors. One of these comparisons juxtaposes Randall Jarrell’s poem, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” and Brown’s own poem “Bombardments,” and the other features poet Pablo Neruda’s use of imagery and Brown’s poem “Bluff.” Another pair of poems Brown reads is Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” and Brown’s “Dulce et Decorum Est Redux.” Brown also reads additional poetry and short fiction, including, “A Grateful Town,” “Sangha,” “Thank you,” “How I Survive,” and “Flow.” In a question and answer session, Castellanos and Brown discuss the possible development of a national department of peace, resolving issues in Libya and other countries without violence, and returning to civilian life after serving in war.
Panel: Conflict Zones
| Date | Mar 31st, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | restricted content, digitization planned |
| Run time | 59:03 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
This audiovisual recording features the noon panel on Thursday March 31, 2011, which discussed the topic “Conflict Zones.” The panel is moderated by Dr. Lucian Stone, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at UND. Panel members are Matt Sienkiewicz, Loida Maritza Pérez, Jim Castellanos, and Sean Mclain Brown. The members discuss the conference’s theme [Inter]National affairs, and Peréz explains why she chose the movie Witnesses, directed by Vinko Brešan, for her contribution to the conference’s film series, and she mentions a book she is currently working on – a memoir called In the Dark. In addition, the panel members discuss their own difficulty with conflict that arises from controversy of their work, how to avoid conflicts among different communities, the idea of courage when writing about difficult subjects, and how to deal with graphic content in their work. Peréz discusses the graphic nature of an assault that takes place in her book Geographies of Home.
Reading: Susan Deer Cloud
| Date | Apr 1st, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 64:08 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
Meg Brown, an undergraduate English major, introduces author Susan Deer Cloud in this audiovisual recording of Deer Cloud’s reading, which took place on April 1, 2011. Deer Cloud begins her reading with a poem inspired by the first poetry she ever read entitled “Sleeping with Carl.” The poem contains an epigraph from Carl Sandburg’s poem “Cool Tombs.” Deer Cloud also reads her poems, “Marlon Brando Dies at 80,” “Are You an Old Hippie They Ask Me,” “Buffalo Nickel Makes Return,” “I Hate Emily and Sylvia a.k.a. NDN Ars Poetica,” “On Turtle’s Back Rising Out of the Brainwashed Waters,” and “Poetry Long as Hair.” Deer Cloud mentions her book Car Stealer and the anthology of Native American literature for which she served as editor, I was Indian Before Being Indian was Cool. She reads her poem, “Sugar Daddy,” featured in the anthology. Dr. Denise Lajimodiere, an assistant professor of education at NDSU of Native American descent, also reads some of her poetry, including “Grand Forks,” “Portland, 1970s,” “My Grandfather was a New Initiate,” “Bag Balm,” “Tracks,” “Sweet Water Well,” and “Holy Hamm’s Beer.”
A Great Conversation with Jamaica Kincaid
| Date | Apr 1st, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | restricted content, digitization planned |
| Run time | 42:17 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
In this recording of "A Great Conversation with Jamaica Kincaid," which took place on April 1, 2011, Kincaid answers a variety of questions posed by the moderator, Dr. Denise Lajimodiere. Topics of conversation include nearly all of Kincaid's work, as well as questions about her childhood. Due to a power outage at the venue, only the last 42 minutes of the conversation were able to be recorded.
Panel: In Between Places
| Date | Apr 1st, 2011 |
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| Participants |
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| Digitization Status | permissions cleared, digitization complete |
| Run time | 58:17 |
| Archival Format | DVD |
| Call Number | Pending |
| Video | small | medium |
This audiovisual recording features the noon panel discussion, “In Between Places” which took place on April 1, 2011. The panel is moderated by Dr. Chris Nelson, an associate professor of English at UND. Panel members include Maxine Hong Kingston, Amoussa Koriko, and Susan DeerCloud. Koriko discusses his difficulties with place when producing his play When the Bird Takes Flight. The panel members discuss how to define “place” in their writing, the barriers that the idea of place puts on different groups of people, the relation between place and identity, the idea of whether the “great American novel” can still be written, discrimination, and the use and unifying qualities of silence.
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