Yes, the hottest week of the year is finally here–the week when just stepping outside is equivalent to stepping into a tandoori oven, and the JOY Writers are once again sponsoring A Bookish Affair.  Hold on to your backsides, folks.  It’s about to get event-centered.

On Friday, 29 June, at 2:00 pm events will start with a screening of The Shawshank Redemption, free and open to the public, at Mabee lecture hall on the NMMI campus.  Visitors can either park in front of Lusk Hall (that’s the clock tower), or Bates, just one parking lot to the west at 101 West College BLVD.  This adaptation of possibly King’s best literary work is a lesson in how the mediums of novels and films work differently, and also explains why so many novels are interesting to film makers.  It also helps us see what an arguably great script doctor can do when put in the director’s chair.

At 6:00 pm that evening we move to The Gallery on Main Street, and there take a class on artistic inspiration and creative journal making.  It promises to be fun and productive evening, and tickets are $20.  Peggy Krantz will be teaching us about book creation in the most practical and tactile of terms.

The next morning, we have a brunch at 10:30 at Bone Springs on east Walnut, just one block south and east of Mays Lumber.  This event is also $20, and seating is limited.  It will be catered and Bev Coots of the JOY Writers will be leading the presentation on publishing and her experiences with it.  The catering will be by Pecos Flavors.

That afternoon, at 1:00 pm, we head back to Mabee and the NMMI campus, to listen to a panel of leading readers in the community to discuss their favorite reads from the past year and offer suggestions about Book Clubs and library offerings.  The events wind up with a special presentation by three Roswell writers who have spent significant amounts of time studying and honing their craft–Kyle Chaney, Barbara Morales, and Barbara Corn Patterson.  Chaney and Morales have recently completed their MFAs in Fiction and Poetry respectively and Corn Patterson has just completed a new novel that will come out this year.

It all promises to be fun AND enlightening.  I look forward to seeing all sorts of people there.  Just comment on this post if you have any questions or are interested in attending any of the paid events.