Come Out St. Pete: A Call to Artists
Lit Bits
By Lynn Taylor
By Lynn Taylor
Times Festival of Reading Goes Virtual
All Tampa Bay artists are invited to enter the Come Out St. Pete art contest and exhibit, hosted in conjunction with Woodfield Fine Art Gallery. Come Out St. Pete was formed in 2017 to celebrate National Coming Out day, and advocates for community awareness and acceptance of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Festivities are typically held in October in the Grand Central District along Central Avenue. This year, due to COVID-19, the art exhibit will be virtual. “With all of the uncertainty and confusion this year because of COVID-19, the Come Out St. Pete board of directors felt that it was important to provide some continuity in planning and opportunities to area artists who have been hit so hard,” said Jim Woodfield, owner of the Woodfield Fine Art Gallery. “The board voted to continue the art contest through a virtual platform and allocated funding for prizes and promotion. Woodfield Fine Art Gallery agreed to host the event and chip in additional funds for prizes and advertising.” Woodfield opened the gallery, 2253 Central Avenue #105, in 2015 with the intention of showcasing his work and the original artwork of other artists in the Tampa Bay area.
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“Woodfield Fine Art Gallery opened with a commitment to represent only local artists, and the gallery has been involved with the COSP Art Contest and Exhibit since its inception in 2017,” said Woodfield. Any Tampa Bay area emerging or established artist aged 18 and older may enter. There is also a contest for emerging youth artists up to age 17. Prizes will be awarded for Best in Show, second place, third place and honorable mention. Youth prizes will include first place and honorable mention. The deadline for entry is August 14 at 6 p.m. Finalists will be notified via email by end of day August 19, and winners will be announced August 24 during the virtual reception. “We have been using a lot of social media and other platforms to try to get the word out about Come Out St. Pete and the wonderful work they are doing for our community which includes this art contest. St. Pete is truly a city of the arts, with an enormous talent pool, and the COSP organization along with Woodfield Fine Art Gallery want to ensure that that talent pool is well represented,” said Woodfield. For contest details, deadlines and requirements, go to jwoodfield.faso.com/events.
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GARRETTF67/CREATIVE COMMONS
WOODFIELD FINE ART GALLERY
The Best in Show winner of the 2019 Come Out St Pete art contest, “Blind Faith” by Reid Jenkings.
One of the biggest literary events in St. Petersburg, the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading, is going virtual this year. Social distancing means no crowds, no packed auditoriums, no long lines to get a book signed. The fall event, held annually at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus, has some well-known writers lined up so far: crime fiction writer James Lee Burke, perennial favorite Michael Connelly, and mystery writer Laura Lippman, who leads workshops at the Eckerd College Writers in Paradise conference each year. Also slated to appear is twotime Pulitzer Prize-winning author for fiction Colson Whitehead, who won the prize most recently for his 2019 novel “The Nickel Boys,” based on Ben Montgomery’s reporting on the Florida School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. According to the Tampa Bay Times, authors will appear in video interviews and panels that will be released November 12 through 14 on a festival website. Signed copies of the authors’ books will be available for purchase.
Writers in Paradise Still on for Now Writers in Paradise, held each January on the Eckerd College campus, is going forward as planned – for now. Folks can apply starting August 1. The popular writers conference is scheduled for January 16 to 23, and is home to an array of craft talks and events. The conference typically features free nightly readings, all open to the public. So far, however, eight workshops are planned, including two novel options, personal essay, memoir, short story, poetry and narrative suspense, as well as a threeday workshop on structure in prose. Faculty includes well-known authors such as Ann Hood, Laura Lippman, Andre Dubus III and more. The conference website says organizers will decide mid-November whether to proceed as planned, based on the latest college guidelines and CDC policies. If the in-person edition
theGabber.com | July 23 - July 29, 2020
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead
is canceled, applicants will be able access a webinar with craft talks, Q&A sessions and faculty readings. This year Writers in Paradise will match
five dollars from every application fee and make a $10 donation to Black Lives Matter. Go to writersinparadise. com for more.
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