Undergraduate Literature Students to Present at WSU
OGDEN, Utah – Literature students from across the country will have the opportunity to present their work at the 37th annual National Undergraduate Literature Conference (NULC) hosted by Weber State University in a virtual format March 31 to April 2.
NULC, founded in 1985 by WSU professors Mikel Vause and Michael Meyer, is the longest running national undergraduate conference in the United States. This year’s conference is dedicated to Alan Cheuse, novelist and long-time supporter of the conference who passed away unexpectedly in 2015. He is credited with bringing author Norman Mailer to the conference in 2005.
“The point of the conference is to let undergraduates share their work with other undergraduates,” said Sarah Vause, conference co-director. “Their writing is just as important as other students across the country. The conference is an opportunity to bring the community back together in a sense and to celebrate literacy.”
The conference will host seven sessions where students will present on subjects including fiction, poetry and literary analysis. The schedule for the presentations can be found here. Attendees may view the session on the NULC website when they begin.
This year’s keynote speakers include the following:
Tobias Wolff
Tobias Wolff's books include “This Boy's Life,” “In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War,” “Old School”; the short novel “The Barracks Thief”; and four collections of short stories. Wolff is a Professor of English, Emeritus, at Stanford University. In 2015 he received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.
Ayana Mathis
Ayana Mathis’ first novel, “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie,” was a New York Times Bestseller, a 2013 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, an NPR Best Books of 2013 and was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as the second selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0. She is an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at the Iowa Writers Workshop.
Clint Smith
Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of “Counting Descent.” He currently teaches writing and literature at the DC Central Detention Facility. His debut nonfiction book, “How the Word Is Passed,” explores how different historical sites reckon with — or fail to reckon with — their relationship to the history of slavery, was published by Little, Brown in June 2021. He received his Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University.
“At a time where books are being banned left and right, it’s all the more important for us to continue to push as a community and to engage in literacy,” Vause said. “We need to see ourselves through other people’s stories and their perspectives.”
For more information about the National Undergraduate Literature conference, visit weber.edu/nulc.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Melissa Smith, Marketing & Communications
801-626-6348 • melissasmith9@weber.edu- Contact:
Sarah Vause, English Department instructor
801-626-8077 • sarahvause@weber.edu