Sunday, June 14, 2009 

3:00 - 5:00 pm

Check-in at Potomac Hall

3:00 - 5:00 pm

Registration

5:00 - 6:30 pm

Dinner - on own 

7:00 - 9:00 pm

Opening Session

      Welcome........Joanne Gabbin

      Seminar Overview........Hilary Holladay

      Reception

Monday, June 15, 2009

8:00 - 8:45 am

Breakfast

8:45 - 9:00 am

General Announcements

9:00 - 10:00 am

Poetry Workshop

This daily workshop will cover poetic meter and form in poems by Lucille Clifton and other African American poets.

      Hilary Holladay, Workshop Leader

10:00 -  10:30 am

Break

10:30 - 12:00 noon

Lucille Clifton's Blessings and Mercies: Writing Spiritual Love as Social Power

An exploration of the innovative uses of the formal characteristics of poetry to model how ordinary black people can take possession of Christian myth in order to cope with pain.

      Keith Leonard, Seminar Lecturer

12:15 - 2:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Small Group Discussions

3:00 - 5:30 pm

Library and Study Time

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Dinner - on own

7:00 - 9:00 pm

Furious Flower Overview

      Joanne Gabbin, Workshop Leader

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 

8:00 - 8:45 am

Breakfast

8:45 - 9:00 am

General Announcements

9:00 - 10:00 am

Poetry Workshop

      Hilary Holladay, Workshop Leader

10:00 - 10:30 am

Break

10:30 - 12:00 noon

Remaking the Memoir: Clifton in Words and Pictures

A discussion on how Clifton creates her multitudinous self in Generations: A Memoir (1976). 

      Cheryl Wall, Seminar Lecturer

12:15 - 2:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Critics' Roundtable

      Hilary Holladay, Keith Leonard, Cheryl Wall, Presenters

3:00 - 5:30 pm

Library and Study Time

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Dinner - on own

7:00 - 9:00 pm

Poetry Reading: "Favorite Poems of Lucille Clifton"

      Participants

Film clips of Lucille Clifton reading her poetry

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 

8:00 - 8:45 am

Breakfast

8:45 - 9:00 am

General Announcements

9:00 - 10:00 am

Poetry Workshop

      Hilary Holladay, Workshop Leader

10:00 - 10:30 am

Break

10:30 - 12:00 noon

The Weight of Heaven: Biblical and Sacred Texts in Clifton's Poetry

An exploration of Clifton's use of biblical narrative and metaphor.

      Edward Scott, Seminar Lecturer

12:15 - 2:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Small Group Discussions

3:00 - 5:00 pm

Library and Study Time

5:00 - 6:00 pm

Dinner - on own

6:00 - 6:30 pm

Travel to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton

6:30 - 9:30 pm

Play at the Blackfriars Theater

9:30 - 10:00 pm

Travel back to Harrisonburg

Thursday, June 18, 2009 

8:00 - 8:45 am

Breakfast

8:45 - 9:00 am

General Announcements

9:00 - 10:00 am

Poetry Workshop

      Hilary Holladay, Workshop Leader

10:00 - 10:30 am

Break

10:30 - 12:00 noon

Soul Talk: Spirituality in Lucille Clifton's Writings

Lecture on the supernatural in the poetry of Lucille Clifton.

      Akasha Gloria Hull, Seminar Lecturer

12:15 - 2:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Critics' Roundtable

      Nikky Finney, Akasha Gloria Hull, Edward Scott, Presenters

3:00 - 5:30 pm

Library and Study Time

5:30 - 7:00 pm

Dinner - on own

7:00 - 9:00 pm

Conversation with Lucille Clifton

      Interview by Nikky Finney

Friday, June 19, 2009 

8:00 - 8:45 am

Breakfast

8:45 - 9:00 am

General Announcements

9:00 - 10:00 am

Teaching Lucille Clifton in the Age of Obama

A discussion of the ways in which Lucille Clifton's poems resonate in a new political era.

      Hilary Holladay, Seminar Lecturer

10:00 - 10:30 am

Break

10:30 - 12:00 noon

Making the Ordinary Revolutionary

Finney will explore the issues of myth and resistance as they connect Virginia with the Dahomey region of Clifton's ancestors. 

      Nikky Finney, Seminar Lecturer

12:15 - 2:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 - 4:00 pm

Participant Presentations

      Joanne Gabbin, Moderator

4:00 - 5:00 pm

Gallery Visit

      150 Franklin Street Gallery 

5:00 - 6:30 pm

Dinner - on own

7:00 - 9:00 pm

Public Reading

      Lucille Clifton, Poet

9:00 - 10:30 pm

Reception

Saturday, June 20, 2009 

10:30 am - 12:30 pm

Wrap-up Brunch and Closing

1:00 - 5:00 pm

Check  out

Sunday, June 21, 2009 

8:00 - 10:00 am

Check  out continues

10:00 am

Potomac Hall closes