Foster Dickson

Just Working These Days

fosterdickson — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:02:14 +0000

With no new developments or publications to announce right now, I am just working these days, mostly on new projects. I am making my second crack at writing a novel — got about 6,000 words right now — and I’ve also begun a nonfiction work about Southern literature that seems to straddle creative nonfiction and literary criticism. I’ve got two academic articles — one on poet Rodney Jones, the other on playwright August Wilson — that I need to rewrite and revise, and for that matter, I’m also writing poems here and there. Oh, and I’ve also got an idea for a one-act play that I may or may not write.

Other than that, I’m sifting through my recent experiences with the staged reading version of “You Can’t Know Where You’re Going,” my work about the state of Alabama, trying to decide what should happen with it next. I had to keep it under an hour in run time for the AUM Liberal Arts Conference, so adding back some of what I cut is an option . . . but I have to acknowledge that all that rehearsing and revising did make it a stronger, clearer work. I’m also toying with the idea of trying to team up with some folks and make an indie film version of it, if we can get some grant or fellowship money to make that possible.

Of course, I’m trying to draw attention to Children of the Changing South, which has only been out for three months now. I will be reading from and talking about the book at the 2012 Alabama Book Festival in about two months, on the third Saturday in April.

Oh yeah, and teaching. That takes up a little of my time, too. As I write this, my creative writing students are writing one-act plays and my 12th graders are finishing Renaissance poets like Donne, Marvell, and Spenser as we prepare to begin studying The Bard with “MacBeth.” Wish us luck!

“You Can’t Know Where You’re Going” at AUMLAC

fosterdickson — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:40:30 +0000

Today, we gave a darn near perfect reading of “You Can’t Know Where You’re Going (When There’s Something In Your I)” at the Auburn University at Montgomery’s Liberal Arts Conference (AUMLAC for short), which has a Southern Studies theme. The audience was fairly receptive, and I even heard a few chuckles during the reading; the other readers said they saw a few heads nodding yes during certain parts. The main thing is that no one yelled at us, threw rotten vegetables, or called the cops! So I guess it went okay. We’re planning now for future readings.

Review of “Children of the Changing South”

fosterdickson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:00:49 +0000

Children of the Changing South received a brief, descriptive review in the February 2012 issue of “Research & Reference Book News.” This mention comes in addition to the book’s being included in Booklist Online‘s “Black History Preview, 2011″ and in Choice Reviews Online‘s “African American Studies 2012: Recent and Forthcoming Titles” lists.

Alabama Book Festival 2012

fosterdickson — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:14:30 +0000

Foster’s new book, Children of the Changing South, will be one of the featured at the 2012 Alabama Book Festival! The festival held every year on the third Saturday in April in Montgomery’s Old Alabama Town.

February 10 at AUMLAC

fosterdickson — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:21:34 +0000

Foster’s staged reading,” You Can’t Know Where You’re Going (When There’s Something In Your I)” will be presented at Auburn University at Montgomery’s Liberal Arts Conference on Friday, February 10 at 11:00 AM. Foster and fellow readers Madison Clark and Nikki Davis will give a performance of the text accompanied by a multimedia presentation created by Robert Shimp. This performance will be the reading’s first public run-through, with plans to give other readings in the future.

” You Can’t Know Where You’re Going (When There’s Something In Your I)” is a distillation of the longer full-length book that Foster wrote after his year-long Alabama-focused research fellowship from the Surdna Foundation. This work fulfills his original plans to move the written text beyond the page and into a performed medium that includes digital images and sound.

New Website Address

fosterdickson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:47:31 +0000

Beginning in January 2012, this page will become the new website for writer, editor and teacher Foster Dickson. His Squarespace web address will be closed at the end of the December; however, www.fosterdickson.com will now point here instead of to the Squarespace hosting. You can still visit Foster’s Pack Mule for the New School and Zero blogs, his Author Page on Amazon.com, his social media pages, all of which are in the same places on the web.

Current news is that Foster’s most recent published book, the edited collection Children of the Changing South: Account of Growing During and After Integration is newly available from McFarland & Co., released in November 2011. Copies cost $35 at full retail price, yet many online sellers do offer discounts off that price.

Also, on Friday, February 10, Foster will present a multimedia staged reading, “You Can’t Know Where You’re Going (When There’s Something in Your I)” at AUM’s Liberal Arts Conference. The reading is a small cross-section of the larger work that came from this 2009-2010 Surdna Foundation Arts Teacher Fellowship project, “Patchwork: A Chronicle of Alabama in the New South.”