Some people, carrying tureens and slow cookers, walk slowly into the APSU Morgan University Center, careful not to spill any soup. Others are a little more relaxed, rushing up the stairs to the MUC ballroom with loaves of fresh bread and packets of plastic bowls and spoons. A very select few seem distracted. They’re the ones who keep glancing into battered composition notebooks or stacks of loose paper filled with poems or short stories or essays.
It’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and this strange parade of pilgrims can mean only one thing – Bread and Words. For the last 15 years, the University’s languages and literature department has hosted the benefit reading and dinner, showcasing the school’s literary talent while raising money for the local Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen.
This year’s Bread and Words event begins at 6 p.m. on Nov. 24 with a dinner of soup, artisan bread and a few desserts provided by Lovin’ Spoonful and Silke’s. An hour later, APSU faculty and students head to the front of the ballroom to read from their work. This year’s readers include Barry Kitterman, an APSU professor and novelist; Chris Burawa, an award-winning poet and director of the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts; graduate students Ashley Wakefield and William Boakes; and undergraduate student Bethany Ann Cooper.
Guitarist Chuck Emery and saxophonist Tony Greaves will also provide music during the evening. The languages and literature department is seeking only a $5 donation for admission into Bread and Words, with all proceeds going to Loaves and Fishes.
For more information, contact Susan Wallace at wallacess@apsu.edu or 221-7031.
