Alyssa VanPelt, Staff Writer
Oneonta, gently known as the “City of the Hills,” has begun its weekend of celebration for the literary arts. The Oneonta Literary Festival initially was going to be a joint effort between Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta, but as it has gained local support, it has grown to include Huntington Library, B-Side Ballroom, and many other facilities within the community.
Atop the hilly terrain of Hartwick College, closer to the bottom of the campus, Bradley J. Fest and Tessa Yang host their first event for the festival at the Anderson Arts Center in the Anderson Theater on October 19th, 2024, at 7 P.M. Both Dr. Fest and Yang are Associate Professors at Hartwick through the English Department. They are both instrumental in organizing the events for the festival, so a much-appreciated thank you goes out to them for bringing such inspiring authors to Oneonta.
The first event features Anna Kornbluh as the Babcock Lecture and Rachel Blau DuPlessis for poetry reading. Kornbluh’s presentation focused on how to write about environmental disasters in fiction and how instrumental it is to bring awareness of climate issues in fiction. Following Kornbluh was DuPlessis, who Dr. Fest introduced as having personally inspired him between 2019 to 2020. As the crowd erupts in applause, DuPlessis makes her way to the stage. When the applause dies down, she sweetly says into the microphone, “People, it’s just me.”
DuPlessis received her Ph.D. from Columbia University and is currently an English Professor at Temple University. Her primary focus has been women’s literature and feminism. She is an accomplished author who has multiple publications including A Long Essay on the Long Poem (2023) from the University of Alabama Press, The Pink Guitar (1990, 2006), Blue Studios (2006), and Purple Passages (2012); all of which were published on the University of Alabama Press. DuPlessis specializes in long poems, especially in her Drafts series.
During Dr. DuPlessis’ reading, she read from her poem collection, Life in Handkerchiefs (Materialist Press, 2022). This collection is considered a collage as it utilizes handkerchiefs in the page designs displayed on the PowerPoint. Handkerchiefs represent the loneliness of womanhood despite everyone having had some. Life in Handkerchiefs is written as an unapologetic representation of the life of women. DuPlessis has a gentle presence but is firm and empowering as she reads. Her poems “Girl Child,” “Anns, Annes, – and Annies,” and “First Words” speak to her mission of how it feels to grow into being a woman.
Following the reading, Dr. Fest sat down with Kornbluh and DuPlessis to answer some audience questions. DuPlessis shares a beautiful sentiment as to why she writes, and this sentiment has been seen through all the authors who spoke during the festival. Authors create to share their work. For some, it could be to share their ideas, to inspire, or for themselves. It is honorable to have been read and chosen to read. DuPlessis when it comes to the value of art says, “It has to be important because we do it.” Art exists to be pleasured by it, but it allows creators an avenue to share their feelings, beliefs, and values.
As Kornbluh tackles environmental issues and DuPlessis discusses womanhood, both are utilizing the pleasurable power of art to draw awareness to the topics that matter the most to them. As the Literary Festival will continue to demonstrate, there is power in writing.
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