Quill Award May 3 major excitement

Writers Hall of Fame®'s local chapter is at a fevered pitch working out the last details of the May 3 Quill Award celebration. Tickets have sold very well. E-mail us to inquire about remaining tickets.

• Watch KOLR 10's morning news show around 6:30 a.m. and KSFX's news at 9 p.m. on Monday, April 30 as board members Julie Bloodworth and I go on air to talk about why it's so exciting to have Daniel Woodrell (photo above courtesy noexit.co.uk) receive our Quill Award and Tess Harper join us to honor him. Details about the TV stations are here.

• Tess Harper (pictured above in a still from her 2005 film Loggerheads) has graciously accepted an interview request from the mayor of Springfield! Tom Carlson will interview her on the City of Springfield's cable channel during the day of May 3. Tess told me Wednesday she plans to speak out about the interesting writers hidden in plain sight in Springfield and southwest Missouri.

• Daniels latest book, Winter's Bone, (pictured in American and British editions here) was honored last night as a finalist in the Los Angeles Times's Book Prizes. It will be available for purchase the evening of the Quill Award, but you can also pick it up at locations such as Well Fed Head Books. We'll also have Dahlia's Gone, by Katie Estill, for sale. She's a novelist in West Plains who happens to be married to Daniel Woodrell.

• Some folks have asked us about directions to Drury University. Visit this page for a map of campus. If you're coming from U.S. 65 near Springfield, exit at Chestnut Expressway, drive west to Benton Avenue. Turn right and then turn right again a block or so later at Central Street. The Findlay Student Center is on the Drury Lane cul-de-sac, but ample parking is one block further east off of Summit Avenue in Lot 7. Turn left onto Summit and park in the lot, then walk about a block west to Findlay.

—Greg, board president