Launch of "Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation"

Jazz at Lincoln Center will host a panel discussion celebration on the publication of Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation on June 17, 7 to 9 p.m. The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts will host a book talk celebration at the University Chapel on June 30, 4 p.m.

Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation, the first book of scholarly and personal essays on the work of a writer who was instrumental in founding Jazz at Lincoln Center, is edited by Dr. Barbara Baker, director of the College of Liberal Arts Women’s Leadership Institute, and features contributions by Dr. Anne-Katrin Gramberg, Dr. Caroline Gebhard, Dr. Bert Hitchcock, Henry Louis Gates, Wynton Marsalis and others.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, will be held in The Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman Studio at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The panel includes Baker; Paul Devlin, SUNY Stony Brook; Roberta S. Maguire, University of Wisconsin; Sidney Offit, New School for Social Research; Greg Thomas, jazz educator, print and broadcast journalist, former host of Jazz It Up!; Lauren Walsh, New York University; and more.

The Auburn program will feature Baker, Hitchcock, Gebhard and other contributors and will be followed by a reception. The public is invited. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at both events.

Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation is published jointly by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University, and The University of Alabama Press.

Save the Date: The Auburn Writers Conference

On Friday and Saturday, October 8-9, 2010, the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts' Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities and Department of English will host the first annual Auburn Writers Conference. The inaugural theme, The Child on the Page: Writing For and About Children, will focus on writing for and about children and young adults. With topics ranging from character and plot development, the future of books, and agent queries, this conference will bring together local and national authors and aspiring writers.

The Auburn Writers Conference 2010 will feature keynote speaker Julianna Baggott; publishing agent Holly Root; writer and illustrator Elizabeth Dulemba; and young adult authors Rachel Hawkins and Irene Latham. Auburn University's very own Chantel Acevedo, Judy Troy, Peter Campion and Peter Huggins of the College of Liberal Arts' English faculty will participate.

Small-group workshops, panel discussions, and readings will give established and emerging writers perspective, skills, and community.

For a full list of speakers, registration, agenda and more information, please visit The Auburn Writers Conference website at www.auburnwritersconference.org.

Join us for a book talk by Jim Buford

Jim Buford, author of the just released The House Across the Road, will read from and talk about his new work on Thursday, May 6, at 3 pm in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Auburn University Library.

The House Across the Road is a departure for the former nonfiction writer, whose previous works include the essay collections The Kindness of Strangers, The Best of Times, Pie in the Sky, and a social history, When the Lights Came On.

Join us at the Alabama Book Festival!

Come out Saturday, April 17 to the Alabama Book Festival at Old Alabama Town, Montgomery. We will have a booth with information about the 2010 Auburn Writers Conference!

April Events

Thursday, April 8, 3:00 pm
Book Talk: Kathryn Braund, Fields of Vision: Essays on the Travels of William Bartram, 1739-1823. Special Collections and Archives Department, Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Thursday, April 15, 3:00 pm
Book Talk: John Sledge, The Pillared City: Greek Revival Mobile. Special Collections and Archives Department, Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Thursday, April 22, 3:00 pm
Book Talk: Richard Penaskovic, Bobby Brown & Richie Blue: A Spiritual Memoir. Special Collections and Archives Department, Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Thursday, April 29, 3:00 pm
Discover Auburn: Joe Yeager and Gene Stevenson, "Comer Hall's 100th Anniversary." Special Collections and Archives, Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Remembering the Scottsboro Trials

On Monday, March 29^th two authors will be on hand to talk about Scottsboro Boys and the trials that followed their conviction. Dr. James Miller, Professor of English and American Studies and Chair of American Studies Department at George Washington University, and Dr. Susan Pennybacker, a modern British and European specialist on the faculty of Trinity College in Connecticut, will speak at 4 p.m. at the University Chapel.



The story of the Scottsboro Boys and subsequent trials began in 1931, when nine black youths were charged with raping two white women. Despite little and contradictory evidence, all nine were found guilty and eight of the defendants were sentenced to death. The trail and the fate of the young men became an international cause and influenced not only the legal system but also American culture at large.

Join us for a panel discussion

Art & Law: An Interdisciplinary Investigation

Thursday, March 25 | 3 pm to 4:45 pm

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art Auditorium


The panel will feature speakers who are artists and lawyers. They will discuss the role of creativity and critical thinking, drawn from their arts and humanities backgrounds, in their professional careers.

Speakers include Janet St. Denis, a visual artist and lawyer who served as council for Auburn University, Trey Granger, director of the Montgomery Elections Center, and Emil Wright, an Auburn lawyer, physician and musician. A student member on the panel will represent Auburn University's Pre-Law Scholars Program.

The panel discussion is part of an ongoing program this spring and fall to showcase the role of the arts and humanities in university, professional and community life. It is developed under the auspices of the Draughon Center's Breeden Scholar in Residence, Professor Barb Bondy.

"Art and Law: An Interdisciplinary Investigation" is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, the Association of Visual Artists, the Pre-Law Scholars Program and the College of Liberal Arts Student Council.