Celebration Recap

Last week we hosted a few events in celebration of Prairie Schooner Book Prize winners Shane Book, James Crews, and Greg Hrbek. There was a meet-and-greet/q-and-a on Monday. Tuesday evening featured collaborative performances by the three prize-winners with UNL’s photography and dance departments.

According to Trey Moody, our events guru, the collaboration came off well.

The audience seemed very engaged in the interdisciplinary aspects of the Celebration, in addition to the readings. I think that’s probably due to most of the audience being accustomed to the ordinary reading format, which this event did not follow (leading to an exciting evening). In particular, the dance performance forced everyone to physically move from their seats toward the center of the theater to ensure they had a good view–so I’d say the physical space definitely was used in a different and beneficial way than most literary events.

You can find the full array of photos from the two days of events here, on the English Department’s Facebook page.