Melissa Pritchard, professor of English and women’s studies at Arizona State University, nationally acclaimed author, and recipient of numerous awards, will be the keynote presenter at the Cochise Community Creative Writing Celebration in Sierra Vista next semester.

The 11th annual event, set for March 27-28, also gives unpublished authors a chance to shine. Conference attendees can participate in a writing contest associated with the celebration. Submissions will be accepted in the areas of poetry, short story, and non-fiction. The deadline to submit entries to the contest, which is open to anyone who registers for the writing celebration, is Monday, Feb. 23. Cash prizes will be awarded on the final day of the event, and winning works will appear in the 2009 edition of “The Mirage,” Cochise College’s art and literary magazine.

Pritchard is the author of three short story collections: Spirit Seizures, The Instinct for Bliss, and Disappearing Ingenue; three novels, Phoenix, Selene of the Spirits, and Late Bloomer; and the biography Devotedly, Virginia: The Life of Virginia Galvin Piper. She received an international fellowship from the Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers in 2008 and the Claudia Ortese Memorial Lecture Prize in North American Literature from the University of Florence in 1995. Her fiction has been translated into Spanish and Italian.

In her keynote address “The Novelist as Witness, Mirror, Bearer of Gifts,” Pritchard will recount her own experiences as a novelist, short story writer, and activist/journalist. She will attempt to define what a novelist’s responsibilities are to the reader and to herself; how the novelist is a witness, a mirror, and a gift-bearer; and how humility and a kind of quiet arrogance is equally called for in the creative process. Pritchard also will present the breakout session “Divining Your Story: Vision and Re-Vision.”

The writing celebration features four additional authors. Rex Lee Jim, a Navajo poet, essayist, playwright, actor, and director, presents “Writing out of Traditional Games.” Harvey Stanbrough, an accomplished poet, essayist, and fictionist nominated for multiple awards, including a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize in Letters, presents “Writing Realistic Dialogue.” Award-winning author Jennifer J. Stewart, who writes seriously funny books for children, presents “Beg, Borrow, Steal – Real Life in Children’s Writing.” And, Tom Wolf, a writer, teacher, forester, and environmentalist, presents “Arthur Carhart and the Art of Biography.”

The creative writing celebration is co-sponsored by Cochise College, the University of Arizona South, and Sierra Vista Parks & Leisure Services. Conference brochures will be available soon. To learn more about the event and the writing contest, visit the Cochise College website at www.cochise.edu, email creativewriting@cochise.edu, or call Leslie Clark at (520) 417-4112.