Arkansas State symposium features professors, musicians

A wide variety of academics will lead the fourth Delta Studies Symposium at Arkansas State University, April 16-18.

Professors from Texas, Indiana, St. Louis, Illinois and more will present papers and conduct discussions on "Creative Expression Beyond the Blues," this year's theme. Bluesman Fruteland Jackson is scheduled to participate, as is David Earl Jackson, columnist for the Memphis-based Tri-State Defender.

The three-day conference also will include panels on Elvis Presley, Teaching and Selling the Blues, Blues and Literature and Race and Country music.

Also planned are writing workshops, which will be limited to 12 poets and 10 fiction writers. They will be conducted by Allison Joseph, who teaches creative writing at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and Barry Hannah, who has been writer-in-residence at the University of Mississippi for 14 years.

Fruteland Jackson will perform on the Friday night of the conference, following a lecture.

For information on how to register, call the university at (870) 972-3043.