Literary festival draws poets, novelists, eroticist

Richard Ford and Kevin Brockmeier, novelists with Little Rock connections, will join Oprah Winfrey’s literary darling Ayana Mathis, erotica author Sylvia Day and poet C.D. Wright as “headliners” for the 10th annual Arkansas Literary Festival on April 18-21.

Authors Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Oscar winners for their Brokeback Mountain screenplay adaptation, will headline a May 2 post-festival fundraiser and a free May 3 reading.

McMurtry has written more than 40 novels, biographies and essay collections, including the Pulitzer-winning Lonesome Dove. Ossana has published several short stories and numerous essays.

Her collaboration with McMurtry has produced two novels and more than 30 movie scripts.

Sales of Mathis’ first novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, skyrocketed after Winfrey recently chose it for her resurrected book club.

The four-day festival will center on the Central Arkansas Library System’s Main Library on Rock Street. Events also are scheduled at venues in the nearby River Market and the Argenta Arts District in North Little Rock, and as far afield as the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History and the Governor’s Mansion.

More than 80 literary presenters will take part in panels and workshops focusing on fiction, memoir, screenwriting, erotica and “superhero psychology and law” (“Could Superman sue if someone exposed his identity? Why does Batman wear a costume to fight crime?”).

“I think they get better each year, and the authors get to know about it,” library system Executive Director Bobby Roberts said Thursday, citing a sort of unofficial “authors’ network” through which word gets around.

“A lot of these authors have never been to Little Rock, never been to Arkansas,” and the library provides transportation, housing and a sort of “unofficial aide” to take care of them while they’re here, Roberts said. “They usually come away with a pretty good impression.”

Special events for adults will include the Friday-night “Author! Author!” cocktail reception (one of the few festival events for which there is a charge — $25 in advance, $40 at the door; tickets go on sale March 1); workshops (one each) on food, wine and spirits; films; and the annual citywide “Spoken Word Live” poetry competition.

Children’s special events include a story time on the Governor’s Mansion lawn, a “book fiesta,” plays, outdoor activities and a “Superhero Activity Afternoon.” Some of the children’s sessions will take place in the Main Library’s Youth Services Department; others are scheduled for the new Children’s Library at 4800 W. 10th St., which library spokesman Susan Hill Gele said will be open by the time the festival gets under way.

The main event for teens will be “ComiCALS,” on the main library’s teen-centered Level 4, which will include a “cosplay” contest (show up as a character in costume), a film screening and a “Zombie Survival Activity.” There also will be meet-and-greets with authors and illustrators, a video-game tournament and a writing workshop.

Festival coordinator Brad Mooy also announced a tipoff event, “Three on Three,” at 6: 30 p. m., Feb. 7, in the Main Library’s Darragh Center. Three Arkansas authors — Brockmeier ( The Illumination), Nickole Brown ( Sister), and festival Chairman Jay Jennings ( Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany) will discuss the work of three other authors who will attend the festival:

Dallas-based Ben Fountain, whose novel Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award, has been called “the Catch-22 of the Iraq war.”

Frank X Walker, a poet, documentary producer, editor and visual artist.

Karen Russell, who has written fiction for The New Yorker and is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist novel Swamplandia! A complete festival schedule will be available, along with ticket information on the events that will require tickets, March 1 at Arkansas Literary Festival. org. More information is available by calling (501) 918-3098 or e-mailing Mooy at bmooy@cals.org.