SPRINGFIELD – Marcellus Leonard and Jacqueline Jackson will be the featured speakers at the Illinois Philological Association's 11th annual conference, to be held Friday and Saturday, April 13 and 14, at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The conference is open to the public; however, advance registration is required.
The two-day event will feature some 80 presentations of creative or scholarly works and panel discussions by students, faculty, independent scholars, and writers from throughout the state.
Leonard will speak at 7 p.m. on Friday. An associate professor in UIS' English program, he specializes in creative writing, especially poetry and playwriting. As a poet, Leonard also organizes and performs at many events throughout the year, often accompanied by jazz or choral musicians or orchestral recordings. He has published three volumes of poetry -- Nubian Cousins: Adventures in Verse, Cardboard Ears: The Early Poems, and Shake the Thunder Down. His poems have also appeared in various college and local journals.
Jackson will speak at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. An English professor emerita at UIS, she currently serves as books and poetry editor for Illinois Times. The award-winning author of 13 books, Jackson was the principal cellist of the Madison (Wisconsin) String Sinfonia for four years before enrolling in graduate school, where she studied creative writing. Her talk, "Eine Keine Lunchmusik," will reflect on her experiences as a musician and a writer.
The IPA was founded in 1996 by representatives from several Illinois colleges and universities to promote fellowship and intellectual exchange among faculty and students in English, linguistics, communication, and foreign language departments, as well as independent scholars and writers throughout the state.
For more information on the conference or the presentations, contact Barbara Cass by phone at 206-6858 or by e-mail at bcass1@uis.edu, or go to www.illinoisphilological.org.
