Teachers, here is some great news for you! You are eligible to earn up to 2.25 continuing education units (CEUs) in four days during February at a very prestigious Natchez event.

This special offer is made by the 23rd annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration. The conference, which will use the theme of “Legends, Lore, and Literature: Storytelling in the South,” will take place Feb. 23-26, 2012.

Among more than two-dozen program components at this year’s celebration are:

4A three-hour, pre-conference screening Feb. 23 of “Tell About the South: Voices in Black and White,” narrated by the poet Rita Dove

4The keynote address Feb. 23, “Supper Table Stories, by Lewis Lord, formerly of Natchez and for years news executive and author of cover stories for U.S. News & World Report

4“Legends in Red, White, and Black” by George E. Lankford, Professor of Folklore, Lyon College, Batesville, Ark., author of book about early native Americans and editor of Arkansas slave narratives

4“Parables about People around the World” by Terrence Roberts, a master storyteller of Meridian, listed on the artist roster of the Mississippi Arts Commission

4“The Faulkners I Knew: William Faulkner and His Niece, Dean Faulkner Wells” by Lawrence “Larry” Wells, Yoknapatawpha Press, Oxford.

4“Come and Listen to My Story — The Melodic Narrative in American Country Music” by Tricia Walker, Delta Music Institute, Delta State University, Cleveland, and Davis Raines, singer/songwriter, Nashville, Tenn.

4“Old Tombigbee Storytelling” by Michael Mills, Chief Judge, Northern District, United States District Court, and author of “Twice Told Tales,” Oxford.

4“After Medgar: No More Fear” by Frank X Walker, University of Kentucky, Lexington, editor of PLUCK!, founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, editor of “Eclipsing a Nappy New Millennium” and author of “Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York”

4“Richard Wright’s Spinning of Tales” by Jerry W. Ward Jr., Dillard University, Wright scholar and noted poet

4“Traveling Through ‘Dixie’ with ‘Zeus’” by Curtis Wilkie, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, author of “The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America’s Most Powerful Trial Lawyer”

4“My Love Affair with Food” by Marcelle Bienvenu, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, La., author of “Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux”

4“Oral History: Listening to Our Past” by Charles C. “Chuck” Bolton, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, oral history expert and author of numerous books

4“Man Against Nature: Up Close and Personal with the Great Mississippi River Flood of 2011,” a panel discussion by Natchez-area residents David Gardner, Natchez city engineer; Louis Guedon, Louis Guedon Farms LLC and Church Hill Produce; Anthony Hauer, Natchez-Adams County Port Commission; Carla Jenkins, Vidalia Dock & Storage Co. Inc.; and H. Lee Jones, H.M. Jones Lumber Co. Inc.

4And the grand finale on Feb. 25, “Chewing the Fat,” by Julia Reed, author of “Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena” and Roy Blount Jr., author of “Roy Blount’s Book of Southern Humor.”

4A workshop about oral history will conclude the NLCC on Feb. 26; it will be presented by Louis Kyriakoudes, University of Southern Mississippi.

This award-winning conference is free of charge except for a luncheon at the Carriage House for $25, a benefit reception/supper at Cherokee mansion for $135 (with $100 tax-deductible) and a reception at the NAPAC Museum ($10 at the door).

A CEU registration fee of $60 covers cost of CEU verification as well as cost of a ticketed NLCC luncheon at the Carriage House with live music by Tricia Walker of the Delta Music Institute, Delta State University, Cleveland.

In order to obtain CEUs, a teacher should send name, address, phone number and check (made out to Copiah-Lincoln Community College, ATTN CEUs, for $60) to me, Beth Richard, 11 Co-Lin Circle, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Natchez, MS 39120. For more information, please call me at 601-446-1203 or email me at Beth.Richard@colin.edu.

I am pleased to serve as the celebration’s CEU committee chairman. What a wonderful opportunity for area teachers!

So, get out your checkbook and sign up for what official evaluators call Mississippi’s most significant annual conference devoted to literature, history, film and culture.

It’s the 23rd annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration. See you there!

 

Beth Richard is coordinating the CEUs for the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.