Liberal Arts

Professor's literary festival for high schoolers celebrates authors

DuBois, Pa. — An annual festival aims to give students at a high school in New York insight into authors they are currently studying, as well as an understanding of the life of a scholar, through a panel discussion featuring nationally and internationally known experts on American authors.

Founded in 2000 by Richard Kopley, Penn State DuBois professor of English, at his alma mater, New Rochelle High School, the literary festival centers today and tomorrow (Oct. 23-24) on the Transcendentalists. Faculty members Phyllis Cole of Penn State Brandywine and Sandra Petrulionis of Penn State Altoona have joined the panel. Past festivals have focused on Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Robert Frost, among others.

"I think the speakers convey to the students a sense of the adventure of reading and of scholarly discovery," said Kopley, who organized with Penn State Conferences the 2008 Nathaniel Hawthorne Society Summer Meeting at Bowdoin College, sponsored by the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society and Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts, University College, Center for American Literary Studies, Department of English and DuBois campus.

Added Leslie Altschul, Language Arts chair at New Rochelle High School, "The visiting professors … showcase the joys and rewards that accrue from lifelong learning."

Last Updated March 19, 2009

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