Red Dirt Book Festival scholar panel to discuss state history
The Red Dirt Book Festival in Shawnee on Nov. 6 and 7 will include many presenters, including best-selling professional authors, editors and publishers. Also attending will be a group of top scholars hailing from four different universities. These scholars will comprise a panel which will be the center of attention at the free Scholars Lunch in the Oklahoma Baptist University Geiger Center on Saturday, Nov. 7, 12:15 p.m.
The topic of discussion for the panel is “Opportunities and Pitfalls of Writing Oklahoma History.” This exploration of the state’s history will include different perspectives from the six scholars, all of whom have written Oklahoma history themselves.
This group of scholars will discuss many questions and issues, including significant elements of a collective Oklahoma history, and whether the Oklahoma experience makes a true difference in one’s writing. In accordance with this year’s festival theme “Imagine Oklahoma ,” the scholars will also discuss the question: how is Oklahoma imagined by different audiences – local/ national, and scholarly/popular?
The scholar panel discussion and luncheon is free; but a ticket is required. Sign up for the Saturday Panel Luncheon, and/or for other programs and presentations of the Red Dirt Book Festival on the website at http://reddirtbookfestival.org, in person at your local hometown library, by mail through a downloadable PDF form on the website, or on-site at the festival at designated registration tables. If a participant has signed up for Friday, Saturday, or both and want to attend the Saturday Scholar Luncheon, he/she must register to attend the Saturday Scholar Luncheon as well. The panel is sponsored by the Kirkpatrick Family Fund.
The scholars include: David Levy who began teaching history at the University of Oklahoma in 1967. Levy has written several books, including The Debate over Vietnam, and has also edited and co-edited collections such as FDR’s Fireside Chats. He is currently working on a three-volume history of the University of Oklahoma .
Also participating in the panel is Doug Hale, emeritus professor of history from Oklahoma State University , where he taught from 1963 until 1982. His focus in books such as Germans from Russian Oklahoma is the social and economic history of immigrants to the U.S.
Patti Loughlin from the University of Central Oklahoma has also written several books, including Hidden Treasures of the American West: Muriel H. Write, Angie Debo and Alice Marriott, which offers a concise examination of Oklahoma historiography and the place of women public intellectuals.
Native Oklahoman and OU graduate John Lovett currently works as the Director of Special Collections and Curator of Western History Collections for the OU libraries. Lovett is the author and coauthor of one book and numerous articles related to Oklahoma American Indians and pioneer photographers of Oklahoma , among other topics.
B. Byron Price is the Director of the University of Oklahoma Press . Price is also the author of many journal articles and has written several books including Fine Art of the West and Cowboys of the American West.
Linda Reese has also been involved with Oklahoma history through teaching and writing. Reese received her Ph.D. from OU and is the author of Women of Oklahoma : 1890-1920, in addition to articles and reviews in various history journals.
Support for the Red Dirt Book Festival is provided by the Pioneer Library System, the Oklahoma Humanities Council, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as community support including the Shawnee Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma Baptist University and St. Gregory’s University and many local donors and volunteers.
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