Writers coming to Rollins literary fest
Rollins College will partner with the National Book Foundation for Winter With the Writers, a literary festival that started at the Winter Park college in 1927. This year’s lineup includes finalists of the National Book Awards on Campus program. All events are free and open to the public. Here’s a chronological look at who’s coming to present master classes in the college’s SunTrust Auditorium and readings at Rollins’ Bush Auditorium.
Hillary Jordan is the author of the novels “When She Woke” and the awardwinning “Mudbound,” which was adapted into a movie that premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival. As part of Jordan’s appearance, “Mudbound” will be screened at Enzian Theater on Jan. 31. Master class: 4 p.m. Feb. 1; reading: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1.
Ishion Hutchinson ,aJamaican poet and instructor at Cornell University, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for “House of Lords and Commons.” Master class: 4 p.m. Feb. 8; reading: 7:30 p.m. Garth Greenwell , a native of Louisville, Ky., is the author of “What Belongs to You” and the novella “Mitko,” which was a finalist for the Edmund White Debut Fiction Prize. Master class: 2 p.m. Feb. 15; joint reading with Luis Muñoz: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15.
Luis Muñoz, born in Granada, is the author of five books of poetry, most recently “Querido Silencio (Dear Silence)” and “Limpiar Pescado: Poesia Reunida (Cleaning Fish: Collected Poems).” He is also a translator and professor at the University of Iowa. Master class: 4 p.m. Feb. 15; joint reading with Greenwell, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15.
Elliot Ackerman, author of “Green on Blue,” has covered the Syrian Civil War since 2013 and been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine. A former Marine, he served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Master class; 2 p.m. Feb. 22; joint reading with Lisa Ko: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22.
Lisa Ko, a New York City native, is the author of “The Leavers,” which won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. She and Ackerman are both finalists for the National Book Awards on Campus. Master class: 4 p.m. Feb. 22; joint reading with Ackerman: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22. The reading will be followed by a moderated Q-and-A session.
Books for kids
Some 20,000 Orange County second-graders were able to read Mary Pope Osborne’s “Stage Fright on a Summer Night” this fall, thanks to Osborne’s Classroom Adventures Program and Orlando Shakespeare Theater. The theater staged “Showtime With Shakespeare,” adapted from Osborne’s popular Magic Tree House book series in October and November. The books were donated to local schools with a high percentage of poor students.
First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need, ran the book distribution. Osborne's Classroom Adventures Program is designed to use kids’ love of the popular Magic Tree House adventures to spark interest in learning and accomplish classroom objectives in creative, meaningful and long-lasting ways.