How the Great Lakes Writers Festival Began
The first Great Lakes Writers Festival was held in 1991 at the initiative of Lakeland College professors Jeff Elzinga and Karl Elder. It was and is supported through an endowment from Lucille Fessler, a former chairperson of the Lakeland board of trustees and patron of the arts. The continued success of the event resulted from the volunteer efforts of members of the Lakeland community and Professor Elder’s connections in the writing community at large.
The featured writers at the first festival were Mark Strand, then Poet Laureate of the United States, and Judith Hemschmeyer, a nationally known writer with Wisconsin roots. In subsequent years Professor Elder, the festival coordinator, continued to bring in exciting and high profile guest writers, and the community came out to meet them at readings and in workshops. Yet, despite the festival’s success, it was suspended in 1997 due to financial considerations.
In 2004 the festival regained its feet and, as before, drew students, members of the Lakeland community and professional writers from a hundred mile radius. Members of the Sheboygan County Writer’s Club and the general public were also among those who turned out for the events.
Plans are evolving for the next Great Lakes Writers Festival, which will continue the Lakeland College writing program’s mission to celebrate and encourage great writing.
GLWF guest writers from the past
October 25-26, 1991: Mark
Strand and Judith
Hemschmeyer
October 16-17, 1992: Billy
Collins and W.P.
Kinsella
October 15-16, 1993: Robin
Hemley and Henry
Taylor
October 14-15, 1994: Lucien
Stryk and Sapphire
October 13-14, 1995: William
Hathaway and Michael
Martone
October 11-12, 1996: William
Heyen and Jonis
Agee
November 4-5, 2004: Tom
Montag and Paul
Zimmer
November 3-4, 2005: Beth
Ann Fennelly and Larry
Watson
November 2-3, 2006: Marilyn Taylor and Sebastian Matthews
November 1-2, 2007: Philip Dacey and Margaret Dawe
Your Great Lakes Writers Festival Host
Karl
Elder is the Jacob and Lucile Fessler Professor of Creative Writing and
Poet in Residence at Lakeland College as well as author of seven collections
of poetry, including Phobophobia, A Man in Pieces, The
Geocryptogrammatist’s Pocket Compendium of the United States, and,
from Marsh River Editions of Marshfield, Wisconsin, Mead: Twenty-six
Abecedariums. His work also appears in two editions of The Best
American Poetry; A Fine Excess: Fifty Years of the Beloit Poetry Journal;
September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond; Sacred Fire;
Sacred Waters; We the Creatures; and several other anthologies.
Among his honors are a Pushcart Prize, the Chad Walsh Award, the Lorine Niedecker Award, the Lucien Stryk Award, grants from the Illinois Arts Council for poetry and fiction, Lakeland’s Outstanding Teacher Award, and the Robert Schuricht Endowment.
For many years and since its inception, Mr. Elder has been associated with the literary magazine Seems – originally as a contributor, followed by poetry editor, and, since 1978, editor and publisher. A member of the National Eagle Scout Association and a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow, Elder is active in Scouting, for which his sons, Seth and Wade, serve as professionals in the organization. Elder and his wife, Brenda, a CCRN, live in Howards Grove, Wisconsin.
Links
- the
author's official web site
- Sheboygan
Press article
- Parallel
Press: The Minimalist's How-To Handbook
- Poetry Daily
site