Announcing the winner of the 2019 Great River Writers Retreat – LeVan D. Hawkins, will read at The Brewed Book in Davenport on 8/31

Midwest Writing Center would like to invite the public to enjoy a free reading by the Great River Writers Retreat contest winner—writer, poet, & performance artist LeVan D. Hawkins (Robbins, IL)—on Saturday, August 31 at 2:00 p.m. at The Brewed Book (1524 N. Harrison St. Davenport, IA).

The Great River Writers Retreat winner is selected from an applicant pool of writers from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin across multiple genres, and allows the winner to spend a week working on a specific writing project they have underway.

LeVan D. Hawkins will be spending a week (August 26-September 1) concentrating on his writing at Benet House Retreat Center in Rock Island, IL. He will celebrate his experience in the area and share some of the writing he worked on during the retreat at the reading, which will take place at The Brewed Book (1524 N. Harrison St. Davenport, IA). Refreshments will be available for purchase.

Midwest Writing Center would like to invite the public to enjoy a free reading by the Great River Writers Retreat contest winner—writer, poet, & performance artist LeVan D. Hawkins (Robbins, IL)—on Saturday, August 31 at 2:00 p.m. at the MWC offices at the Rock Island Public Library.

The Great River Writers Retreat winner is selected from an applicant pool of writers from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin across multiple genres, and allows the winner to spend a week working on a specific writing project they have underway.

LeVan D. Hawkins will be spending a week (August 26-September 1) concentrating on his writing at Benet House Retreat Center in Rock Island, IL. He will celebrate his experience in the area and share some of the writing he worked on during the retreat at the reading, which will take place at Midwest Writing Center on the ground floor of the Rock Island Public Library, 401 19th St. Rock Island, IL. Light refreshments will also be served. 

The finalists for this year’s Great River Writer’s Retreat are Donna O’Shaughnessy (Saunemin, IL) and Tom Boswell (Madison, WI).

LeVan D. Hawkins is a writer, poet, & performance artist formerly of Los Angeles, now based in Chicago. In Chicago, he has appeared at You’re Being Ridiculous storytelling series at Steppenwolf Theatre, Links Hall, John and Nancy Hughes Theater, Am I Man Enough? Series at Woman and Children First Bookstore, This Much Is True Chicago, and OUTspoken! In LA, he has performed at venues such as the UCLA Hammer Museum, Redcat Theater at Disney Hall, the World Stage, and Highways Performance Space. Hawkins’ prose has appeared in suchpublications as EDNA (Millay Colony of the Arts Literary Journal), Lunch Ticket Literary Magazine, Bleed Literary Blog, LA Times, LA Weekly, LA & SF Frontiers, Sante Fe Reporter (NM), Sacramento News and Review (CA). His poetry has appeared in publications such as 35 Years of AIDS, Voices from Leimert Park, Best of MAP Featured Poetry, Spillway Magazine, and City of L.A. African American Heritage Month (2010, 2008, 2007). Recipient of several fellowships, most notably, he is a MacDowell Colony of the Arts Fellow and received his MFA from Antioch University-Los Angeles. He has traveled across the country reading and performing and has appeared in the New York International Fringe Festival and the National Black Theater Festival. He is currently completing his book, What Men Do.

The Great River Writer’s Retreat is generously sponsored by Dr. Nicolas Shammas in collaboration with the Midwest Writing Center