FSU Center for Literary Arts Hosts 11th Annual Indie Lit Festival

On Friday Oct. 13 and Saturday Oct. 14, the 11th annual Independent Literature Festival was held in multiple locations around the city of Frostburg.

Friday night kicked off the event with a reception held at the Center for Literary Arts and readings from authors China Martens, Mai’a Williams, Benjamin Brindise, Justin Karcher and Nathanael Stolte. At 7:30 p.m., authors from PM Press and Buffalo Independent Press Collective participated in a panel discussing the relationship between authors and publishers.  Later in the night, at 9 p.m., a table reading of “Vermillion’s Song: A Sordid Mermaid Musical,” was performed.

Saturday morning was kicked off with registration for presses and attendees.  From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., a book fair was set up at the Gunter Hotel selling publications from participating presses.  Participating presses for the 2017 Indie Lit Fest included Akinoga Press, Autumn House Press, NightBallet Press, Wagging Tales Press, Crisis Chronicles Books, PM Press, and others.

The first event of the day was a roundtable on fiction.  Following this roundtable were several panels and readings.  The panels covered topics such as writing and the first amendment, telling the story through podcasting, the ethics of writing blurbs, and writing about spirituality.  The readings included the Backbone Mountain Review, Horror Reading: Seton Hill MFA and Samsara Magazine, and others.

This year also featured a new Cumberland based podcast called “Record, Talk, Listen.”  Attendees to this session had the opportunity to be a part of the podcast by putting their stories out to the world for the session.  The podcast is a creation of Lyd S.

According to the Frostburg State University calendar of events, the event was made possible by sponsorships  from the FSU Center for Literary Arts, FSU’s Lewis J. Ort Library, the Allegany County Public Library System, the city of Frostburg, the Community Trust Foundation, and the Maryland State Arts Council.