Home
Center for Women Writers
2008-09 Visiting Writer, Nathan Ross Freeman 

Nathan Ross Freeman is Salem College's Visiting Writer for the 2008-09 academic year.  

Freeman is the creator of Author Through the Senses: an intensive creative writing and spoken word impact communications curriculum: writing, adapting narratives and poetry into audiovisual spoken word mediums. 

He is an award-winning script writer, filmmaker, creative writing and spoken word educator. He is the founder of Montage Showcase Ensemble, the Assegai Film Group, Winston-Salem Youth Arts Institute and Pen & Voice, LLC. 

Freeman is the former co-founder and editor of the Piedmont Pedlar, a monthly literary sampler; former associate editor of the Crescent Review literary magazine; and a member of the NC Humanities Speakers Bureau. 

Freeman is the first resident playwright in the history of the NC Black Repertory Company (1985-1995) and a Guest Teacher Alum of the NC School of the Arts (1991). 

Freeman was awarded 2007 B.E.S.T. Outstanding Faculty, Department of Dance and Theatre, as a member of the Intensive Writing Faculty teaching screenwriting/playwriting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is a native of Philadelphia, PA, and a a graduate of St Joseph's University. 

The Salem College Center for Women Writers Presents a Series of Cultural Events

September -December 2008 
 

The Center for Women Writers (CWW) is proud to present a number of exciting, informative and inspiring programs during fall 2008. All are free unless otherwise noted, and will be held on the Salem College campus.  

  • For general information or special assistance: info@salem.edu or (336) 917-5313.
  • To be placed on the cultural events mailing list (both regular mail and email notifications): Contact the director of the Center, Ginger Hendricks, at cww@salem.edu or (336) 721-2739.
  • For quickest access to information on cultural events, directions, etc., visit the Salem College website at www.salem.edu.

ROSA JOHNSON BUTLER, MAYA ANGELOU: A GLORIOUS CELEBRATION

Thursday, September 4 at 7 p.m.

Shirley Recital Hall, Salem Fine Arts Center 

Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration is a moving biography, created by the people who know her best-her longtime friends Marcia Ann Gillespie and Richard Long, and her niece Rosa Johnson Butler. Part tribute, part scrapbook, capturing Angelou at home, at work and in the public eye, it features more than 150 portraits, family photographs and letters from the life of one of the world's most admired artists, Maya Angelou. Johnson Butler, a 2000 graduate of Salem and the archivist of Angelou, will address the writing process employed by Angelou as well as the development of this personal, illustrated portrait of the renowned poet, author, playwright and humanitarian. 

BOOKMARKS 2008, FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

Saturday, September 13 from 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Historic Bethabara Park, 2147 Bethabara Road, Winston-Salem, NC 

BOOKMARKS brings writers and readers of all ages together as authors, illustrators, musical groups, storytellers and chefs share their work and insights through readings, presentations, panel discussions, workshops and book signings. The festival will partner with community organizations, exhibitors and a variety of food vendors, as well as present creative and interactive activities for children and teens. The 2007 festival drew approximately 7,500 participants. The fourth festival will feature more than 50 authors of local, regional and national renown, including Nikki Giovanni, Carmen Agra Deedy and Marissa de Los Santos. D. G. Martin, host of UNC-TV's NC Bookwatch, is honorary chair. The Center is pleased to sponsor two writing workshops, one featuring Salem Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing Amy Knox Brown, who will discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of the short-short story, and the second spotlighting Salem Visiting Writer Nathan Ross Freeman, who will discuss characterization in film, theatre and the spoken word as viewed through the layers of self.  Please visit www.bookmarksbookfestival.org for more information. 

ANNA RUBINO, QUEEN OF THE OIL CLUB: THE INTREPID WANDA JABLONSKI AND THE POWER OF INFORMATION

Monday, September 15 at 7 p.m.

Shirley Recital Hall, Salem Fine Arts Center

Anna Rubino will speak about her new biography of the trailblazing investigative reporter, Wanda Jablonski. From the Saudi king's harem to the boardrooms of Big Oil, Jablonski defied the prevailing view in the 1950s that a woman reporting on business had no credibility as she unveiled secrets of the world's most lucrative trade. Critics have called the story "galvanizing in its revelations" and "intimate but also sweeping, capturing the myopia of both business and government as America's addiction to foreign oil set in over four decades." Rubino, a journalist and historian with a Ph.D. from Yale University, has covered oil and business news from New York and Brussels. Rubino is now an investigative reporter for Off The Record Research, a San Francisco-based investment news service, and lives in Winston-Salem.

RECENT MEDIA BY FRANCESCA TALENTI: "BEYOND THE RECTANGLE"

Monday, October 6 at 7 p.m.

Shirley Recital Hall, Salem Fine Arts Center 

Francesca Talenti is a filmmaker and animator who has exhibited her work from Sundance to PBS National. She has won a number of audience and "best of" awards, and has received grants from the Independent Television Service, Latino Public Broadcasting and the Kauffman Foundation, among others. Talenti will show several of her pieces including Rain, Dreams of Liquid Memories (excerpt), Genesis: Mishaps in the Kitchen (excerpts) and Full Fathom Five (excerpt). Talenti teaches media production at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Sponsored by the Revolve Film and Music Festival and the Center for Women Writers 
 

AMY KNOX BROWN, A POETRY READING

Tuesday, October 21 at 7 p.m.

The Saal, Single Sisters House 

Come celebrate the release of Amy Knox Brown's poetry chapbook, Advice from Household Gods. This collection, written by Salem's Director of the Creative Writing Program and Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing, features poems on danger, love, what passes for love and how where we are from shapes our lives. Brown also wrote the short story collection Three Versions of the Truth.  

WRITE PLACE, WRITE TIME: A WRITING WORKSHOP FOR YOUNG WOMEN

Saturday, October 25 from 1 - 3:30 p.m.

Single Sisters House 

Young women enrolled in grades nine through 12 are invited for an afternoon writing experience. "Write Place, Write Time" will offer lectures on the elements of craft, followed by invention exercises and small group workshops. Publishing opportunities for young writers will also be discussed.  Both poetry and fiction classes will be offered. These writing workshops will be taught by the Salem College creative writing faculty: Amy Knox Brown, assistant professor of English and creative writing; Nathan Ross Freeman, visiting writer, and Ginger Hendricks C'00, director of the Center for Women Writers. This workshop is free. To register, e-mail cww@salem.edu or call (336) 721-2739. Please specify your preference for additional study: fiction or poetry.  
 

LUIS RODRIGUEZ, "HEARTS AND HANDS: CREATING COMMUNITY"

Wednesday, November 5 at 7 p.m.

Shirley Recital Hall, Salem Fine Arts Center 

Writer and activist, Luis Rodriguez has interacted with audiences all around the world for more than 20 years to explore the issues of youth, gangs, violence, education, poverty, the housing crisis and more. His message is that imaginative and healing regenerative power lies in a truly aware, attentive, cohesive and caring community. Rodriguez has helped start many prominent organizations including Chicago's Guild Complex, one of the largest literary arts organizations in the Midwest. He is the author of Hearts and Hands: Creating Community in Violent Times; Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.; and Music of the Mill. Rodriguez is also the author of several poetry collections and books for children including My Nature is Hunger: New and Selected Poems 1989-2004 and America Is Her Name. His honors include a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award, a Lannan Fellowship for Poetry, a Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature and a Carl Sandburg Literary Award. He was one of 50 leaders worldwide named as "Unsung Heroes of Compassion," an honor that was presented by the Dalai Lama. 

A FILM SCREENING: JACK TAYLOR OF BEVERLY HILLS

Saturday, December 6 at 7 p.m.

Shirley Recital Hall, Salem Fine Arts Center 

In a special partnership, the Revolve Film and Music Festival and the Salem College Center for Women Writers are proud to present this film about Old Hollywood glamour. In today's prêt-a-porter world, tailors like Jack Taylor teeter on the verge of extinction. For more than 60 years, this American icon has swathed Hollywood in sartorial splendor. Cary Grant, Sid Caesar and Elvis Presley all wore his custom-made suits; during the Rat Pack era in particular, Taylor all but defined men's fashion for the A-list. Director Cecile Leroy Beaulieu features candid interviews with avid customers and with Taylor himself as he speaks of his life as a fashion pioneer. Admission by ticket only. Tickets available online only from revolvefestival.com. Tickets sold online until 3 p.m. day of show. Price $8 in advance (plus 2.5 % service charge), $10 day of show. Current Salem Academy and College students, faculty and staff are eligible for free admission. Please show your Salem ID at the door for entry.  
 

JOHN HUTTON, CHRISTMAS MAUS, A HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

Sunday, December 7 at 3:30 p.m.

Shirley Recital Hall, Salem Fine Arts Center

Celebrate the holiday season with the entire family when you join us for the book launch of John Hutton's Christmas Maus, based on beloved Salem Moravian traditions. Your heart will be warmed with a reading of the story and an art lesson with Hutton, whose watercolor illustrations perfectly capture the perspective of a tiny mouse. John Hutton, a professor of art at Salem, is also the author and illustrator of Sister Maus: A Small Tale of Sisters House in Salem, among others. Christmas Maus, a tale that begins and ends with cookies, will delight us all!