“Books and Bluegrass” Brings Homegrown Entertainment
April 7, 2008
For Immediate Release
STILLWATER -The Stillwater Public Library and OSU Library present a “Books and Bluegrass” program at the public library on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 7 p.m. with Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma award winning author, Rilla Askew and Stillwater’s own Flatland Grass Band.
Rilla Askew will discuss her award winning book, Fire in Beulah, and her new novel, Harpsong. Her books will be for sale, and Askew will be available for signing.
Rilla Askew was born in southeastern Oklahoma, a fifth-generation descendant of southerners who settled in the Choctaw Nation in the late 1800s. Askew’s roots go deep in the Sans Bois country, where her family still lives, but she grew up fifty miles from Tulsa in the oil company town of Bartlesville. It was there she first encountered the complex forces of race, class, and societal opinion: elements she continues to explore in her fiction.
The book that fulfilled her determination to write about the Tulsa riot, Fire in Beulah, received the American Book Award from the Myers Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in 2002. Her latest novel, Harpsong, is published by the University of Oklahoma Press.
The Flatland Grass Band will perform after Askew’s talk. This popular musical group is composed of four students from Oklahoma State University, Sam Parks, James Hempfling, Blake Parks and Blake Newton. They have been performing together since December 2006.
“Books and Bluegrass” is sponsored by the Friends of the Stillwater Public Library, Friends of the OSU Library, Stillwater Public Library, OSU Library, Oklahoma Department of Libraries and the Oklahoma Humanities Council.
This program is free and open to the public and includes refreshments and door prizes.
The Stillwater Public Library is located at 1107 S. Duck St. (the corner of Duck and Twelfth Ave.). For more information, call (405) 372-3633 or visit the website at http://library.stillwater.org.Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant system that cuts across disciplines to better prepare students for a new world. Oklahoma's only university with a statewide presence, OSU improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation, and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research and outreach. OSU has more than 32,000 students across its five-campus system and nearly 21,000 on its Stillwater campus; with students from all 50 states and about 110 nations. Established in 1890, OSU has graduated more than 200,000 students who have made a lasting impact on Oklahoma and the world. CREATE - INNOVATE - EDUCATE - GO STATE!
URL: http://www.library.okstate.edu/news//spring08/bluegrass.htm
Last Updated: 6 June 2008
