THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070316
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
One way to learn about the cultural and political life of a country is to meet an artist, a scientist or a writer from that land. Someone who is eager to talk, and to listen.
For the next five weeks, Andrej Blatnik, a 32-year-old writer from Slovenia, will work - and live - at the Old Dominion University International Writers Center. He and 36-year-old Gustav Murin, a Slovakian writer, are the first artists to be hosted by the center, which opened a little more than a year ago.
``This is a good beginning,'' said Ron Wray, director of the center. ``This has a cutting edge feel to it, to have writers coming from a part of the world where there has been so much dramatic change, and which is still so close to conflict.
``It must filter in and out of their work,'' he said.
The writing center is helping make Hampton Roads ``a happening place in terms of literature and writing,'' he said. ``There are only three other international writing centers, that I know of, in the U.S.
``It's an important addition to this area. It provides a focus for international voices, through international literature, part of the new global communication.''
Conceived by ODU English professor Phil Raisor, the center opened as a joint project of the university and the Associated Writing Programs, a national nonprofit literary organization.
The center operates on a limited budget; Wray is the only full-time employee, and he has a graduate student intern who helps out 10 hours a week.
Wray, 46, is a poet and writer who has been an arts administrator for the past 20 years. He and his wife, Gayle Paul, a visual artist, moved here from San Fransisco earlier this year.
While the two Eastern European writers are in Norfolk, they will hold public readings, conduct workshops for the graduate students and address local community groups. Murin, currently a writer in residence in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, will only be visiting for one week.
Blatnik, who still lives in Slovenia, a former republic of Yugoslavia that declared its independence in 1991, will be in the area for five weeks. He will live at the International Writers Center, a small house located at 1411 W. 49th St.
In addition to lodging, the center will provide work space for Blatnik so he can continue to write while he is here, Wray said. And he will be available for interviews, readings and lectures.
``Both writers are open to talking about the climate for artists in their countries, both now and in the past. They have come from a restricted, repressed atmosphere,'' Wray said.
He is still developing programs for the center for the remainder of this academic year. A.B. Yehoshua, an Israeli peace activist, fiction writer and Fulbright Fellow, has been scheduled to visit, and Wray is working on plans to bring Caribbean and African writers to ODU in the spring. Ideally, he wants to provide three exchange programs per year through the International Writers Center.
``It's a lofty vision, but it will be helpful for our understanding of - and existing in - a world with such different voices. We are dedicated to upping the ante, so people in Hampton Roads will think of us as an educational resource, a human rights organization and a world exchange program, through literature,'' Wray said. MEMO: AT A GLANCE
Blatnik and Murin will give public readings on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
in Room 101 at the Mills Godwin Life Science Building on the campus of
Old Dominion University. Andrej Blatnik is available, during the next
month, for speaking engagements. For more information on scheduling him
to speak for your organization, contact Ron Wray at 683-5841. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Slovenian writer Andrej Blatnik will be working and lecturing
through the Old Dominion University International Writers Center.
Blatnik is among the first writers to discuss their work here.
by CNB