Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Writers and readers descend on Sun Valley

Writers’ conference promotes intellectual curiosity


By SABINA DANA PLASSE
Express Staff Writer

The Sun Valley Writers’ Conference will take place Aug. 19-22 at the Sun Valley Resort.

The 2011 Sun Valley Writers' Conference will celebrate 16 years of gathering readers and writers to the Sun Valley Resort to explore thought and prose on issues and ideas of international and local interest. From Aug. 19-22, the conference will fill the Sun Valley Resort with talks at the pavilion, breakout sessions with writers and many more literary events. Full event passes are $850 for the weekend. For details, visit  HYPERLINK "http://www.svwc.com" www.svwc.com.

This year people can enjoy a diverse group of presenters, including author and New York Times columnist David Brooks, oncologist and 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winner Siddhartha Mukherjee, sportswriter Rick Reilly and journalist, humorist and memoirist Calvin Trilling.

Also included this year is best-selling author of "The Help," Kathryn Stockett, coming on the heals of the film release of her book. Military historian Rick Atkinson will attend, as will Irish novelist and 2009 National Book Award winner Colum McCann, internationally renowned Israeli novelist and peace activist David Grossman, New York Times national correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson and former U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan.

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A special panel discussion called "The Arab Awakening" will feature Ambassador Christopher Hill, Iranian specialist Suzanne Maloney and Former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.

For four days each August, some of the country's—and the world's—best writers and thinkers come together to talk about their work and the world, considering ideas set forth in fiction, nonfiction, journalism, poetry and filmmaking. Past presenters have included 31 Pulitzer Prize winners, 10 National Book Award winners and five winners of the elite Man Booker Prize. Together, writers and readers freely exchange ideas, concerns, hopes and aspirations.

The audience of some 1,000 members will be able to attend talks at the Sun Valley Pavilion and smaller, more intimate sessions with favorite speakers, as well as theatrical and musical performances, and, on opening day, an Academy Award-nominated film.

Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com




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