My Exciting News & the 2015 Langdon Review Weekend in Granbury, Texas

What is the Langdon Review Weekend?

Each September, during the week following Labor Day, Tarleton State University hosts a festival called the Langdon Review Weekend at the Dora Lee Langdon Center in Granbury, Texas.

Attendees each receive a copy of the Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas, a literary journal that highlights poetry, fiction, essays, film, photography, art, and music from all over the Lone Star State.

Throughout the Langdon Review Weekend, fans of writing, music, film, and art attend live performances, gallery showings, book signings, film screenings, and more.

It’s a whole lot of fun!

Art, Poetry, Picnics & More

Conference organizers, Moumin Quazi and Marilyn Robitaille, did a great job planning and lining up interesting and inspiring events throughout the entire Langdon Review Weekend.

Festivities included:

Art Exhibits: An art exhibit of paintings and glassworks at a gallery featuring heavy hors’ doevres, live music, and local wine.

Literary Presentations: Numerous sessions featuring poetry, short fiction, and even a song or two.

Poetry Picnic: Hosted by local art patrons, Dominique and Charles Inge, we dined al fresco while enjoying a performance by the 2015 Texas Poet Laureate, Carmen Tafolla.

Film Screening: A screening of the movie, “Bernie,” with a special Q&A session afterwards by, Skip Hollandsworth, who’s article, “Midnight in the Garden of East Texas” in Texas Monthly inspired the film.

Book Release: A special reading by several contributors to the book Her Texas: Story, Image, Poem & Song

Brunch: On the final day, we enjoyed a lovely brunch on the lawn of the Dora Lee Langdon center, then heard a wonderfully inspiring talk by Artist Advocate & Independent A&R Woman, Teresa LaBarbera Whites.

My Presentation

It was my first year attending the Langdon Review Weekend and I loved every minute of it! And, yes, I did give a presentation. It wasn’t like the talks I’m hired to give at libraries, paracons, and so forth, where I am sharing information on a specific topic like offbeat Texas travel, haunted hot spots, or historic cemetery symbols.

For Langdon, I read (and ad-libbed) my way through an essay which features a couple of poems and ended with a song about a Madrona tree. I am not sure what prompted me to sing and play guitar, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone a little. I am glad I did, however, because Laurence Musgrove played mandolin, and Sandi Horton played Native American flute, so I wasn’t the only writer to decide that “mixed genre” might as well include a bit of music, too.

I had a great time!

My Big News!

Even though the Langdon Review Weekend has been an annual event since 2004, they decided to add something new to the roster, an annual Writer-in-Residence Program. This creative residency is sponsored by the Granbury Wine Walk and this year’s recipient is poet, Christopher Carmona.

From now on, each Langdon Review Weekend will feature a Writer-in-Residence. In exchange for a $500 stipend and two-weeks’ lodging in one of Granbury’s B&B’s, the Writer-in-Residence will attend the Langdon Review Weekend, perform community out reach, and hopefully get a lot of creative writing done!

Although, the details haven’t been ironed out, each Writer-in-Residence will be responsible for a special Langdon Review Weekend pen during their chosen year. They will hand off the pen to the next recipient the following year.

So, guess who this year’s Writer-in-Residence, Christopher Carmona, will be handing his pen to at the 2016 Langdon Review Weekend?

You guessed it: ME! I am so excited. Moumin and Marilyn have already told me that in addition to writing, I can have a month-long photography exhibit in conjunction with the residency. Isn’t that great? I keep pinching myself, I tell you!

Poetry Under the Poet Tree

As I mentioned earlier, one of the many special events planned for the Langdon Review Weekend was a picnic with the 2015 Texas Poet Laureate, Carmen Tafolla.

This being Texas, and this being summer, I was a little worried that we would be wilting from the heat. We lucked out, however, with a “cold front” that brought the temps down to a mere 90 degrees, assisted by a breeze, hand-held fans, and a generous amount of shade. Carmen Tafolla’s poetry reading was beautiful and the setting made it all the more special.

 

6 Texas Poet Laureates

As it turns out, half a dozen Texas Poet Laureates attended the Langdon Review Weekend picnic. Can you say photo op?

And just so you can put names to faces, the poets in the photo above are (from left to right):

Karla K. Morton
Larry D. Thomas
Carmen Tafolla
Jan Seale
James Hoggard
Alan Birkelbach

What a talented bunch, eh?

Poets Laureate Live Oak

Check out the sign on this glorious live oak! I don’t know the full story behind the Poets Laureate tree in Granbury, but it stands in the backyard of local art patrons Dominque and Charles Inge, and I will see what I can find out about it.

If you’re reading this, and you know the answer please let me know! (You can simply leave a comment on this post.) If you know me at all, you know that I love trees, especially ones with history attached, such as the Turner Oak over in Fort Worth, or the Hanging Tree up in Gainesville.

Excited for Next Year!

I get a kick (pun intended!) out of Karla K. Morton’s boots (pictured above) which she had specially made by Leddy’s in Fort Worth after becoming the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate. (Although, I couldn’t help but wonder, this being Texas and all, if there was such thing as a Poet Lariat around here?)

In the meantime, as I’m sure you can understand, I am already looking forward to next year’s Langdon Review Weekend over in Granbury, Texas! Yee haw!

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