Weber State will host the annual National Undergraduate Literature Conference on March 29 to March 31 and will feature three award-winning authors.

The objective of this conference is to reach over 200 undergraduate writers and poets and allow them to present their work while learning from professionals in these fields.

The first published author to introduce the keynote address and the focus on Holocaust Remembrance Week in the Austad Auditorium will be Daniel Mendelsohn.

Mendelsohn is an eternally-bestselling author with books like “Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays from the Classics to Pop Culture,” “Gender and the City in Euripides’ Political Plays” and “An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic.”

The second presenter is poet Robert Hass, winner of both the 2007 National Book Award and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, with works titled “Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005,” “Sun Under Wood” and “Praise.”

The last writer to speak to the conference will be fictional author Brian Evenson.

“Altmann’s Tongue,” “Last Days,” and “Two Brothers” are all books of his that helped him become the winner of the ALA/RUSA prize for Best Horror novel of 2009 and the O. Henry Award in 1998.

Each of these authors will participate in a reading of their own work, followed by a Q&A from the audience.

Additional workshops will feature experienced teachers, including Anna-Marie Sprenger from Stanford University, Sarah Chandler from Whitworth University and Elizabeth Hoffman from Point Loma Nazarene University.

“Leave your inhibitions at the door when you come here. You aren’t going to be judged on your work because you wouldn’t be here unless your work was a high-quality level.” Adam Galiano, a fictional short story writer, said when explaining his experience in a Weber State interview last year after the conference.

A student who attended the conference from out of state was Katelyn Jones, a scholar from the College of Southern Idaho. She said the experience of the conference was important for all pieces of literature.

In a Weber State interview, she discussed how the conference boosts confidence in student writers because they can go out into this environment where they are surrounded by other writers who are actively pursuing their own particular genre, and they can learn from each other.

The last interviewee, Stacy Haroldson, who is a student at Brigham Young University Idaho, said her favorite part of the conference was how easy it was to connect with the other participants at the conference.

“A really great conversation starter is ‘What are you presenting?’ and suddenly you have this great connection,” Haroldson said.

This year’s schedule is listed below:

March 29, 2018

10:30-11:45 am — Daniel Mendelsohn: Keynote address for NULC and Holocaust Remembrance Week (Austad Auditorium)
2-3 pm — Favorite Poems Project (EH 229)
5:45-6:30 pm — Social Hour at Timbermine Steakhouse
6:30 pm — Opening NULC Banquet & Keynote by Robert Hass

March 30, 2018

8-9 am — Student Sessions
9:15-10:15 am — Student Sessions
10:30-11:30 am — Robert Hass Reading/Q&A (EH 229)
11:45-12:45 — Student Sessions
1-2 pm — Daniel Mendelsohn Reading/Q&A (EH 229)
2:15-3:15 pm — Student Sessions
3:30-4:30 pm — Brian Evenson Reading/Q&A (EH 229)

March 31, 2018

8-9 am — Student Sessions
9:15-10:15 am — Student Sessions
10:30-11:30 am — Brian Evenson Talk/Q&A (EH 229)
11:45 am-12:45 pm — Student Sessions
1-2 pm — Student Sessions

Conclusion of NULC 2018

Registration for the event, information and prices can be found on the Weber State website at https://www.weber.edu/nulc/registration.html.