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MU to host 'Veterans Tell Their Stories' workshops March 13
James Mathews and Marie Manilla listen as war veteran Richard Currey shares his stories and discusses his award-winning published works on Friday, March 12, 2010, at Marshall University's Smith Hall.
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HUNTINGTON -- At the crossroads of military service and journalism stand the stories of soldiers through the ages.
"Warriors have always told their tales," said James Mathews, veteran and author of the award-winning short story collection "Last Known Position, "and, that is vital."
Mathews, along with Vietnam veteran Richard Currey, author of the best-selling "Fatal Light," are on campus at Marshall University this weekend as part of the 2010 Birke Fine Arts Symposium -- "Giving Voice: Social Justice and the Arts." On Saturday, they will participate in workshops titled "Veterans Tell Their Stories" from 10:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 2:45 p.m., and Mathews will deliver the keynote address at 3 p.m. in Marshall's Smith Hall. All events are free and open to the public.
"I have to thank a student in my class who did not pick up their paper on their experiences in Afghanistan. It got me imagining what he went through and it guided me on this process," said John Van Kirk, during a roundtable discussion Friday with Mathews and Currey, along with Marshall's Marie Manilla, author of "Shrapnel," a generational look at the legacy of war.
The goal of the weekend's activities is to work with veterans and non-veterans who want to write about the military experience, but feel they may not know how to address an often neglected aspect of American life.
"This is devoted to very special territory, where military service and writing intersect," said Currey, who wrote about his own Vietnam experience and return to the United States.
Mathews, who was activated after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and was deployed to Iraq twice, said when he returned he thought it was time to start writing more about his experiences.
For Manilla, writing has been a process of trying to understand her father, brother and brother-in-law in a military capacity.
"There is fallout of war on the lives of the families of veterans. My father suffered night terrors and panic disorders. My brother was in Vietnam, my nephew in the Persian Gulf. I think I'm like a lot of people in that we're surrounded by veterans," she said. "I represent the family members who are also often casualties of war."
Both Mathews and Currey agreed that the definitive novel on the Iraq experience probably has yet to be published. "It will take time for that story to be told," Mathews said, noting the gap between conflict and works such as 'All Quiet on the Western Front,' 'Jarhead,' and 'Catch-22.' "It's normally about ten years after a war that we see great literature coming out."
For more information on the weekend's events, visit www.marshall.edu/cofa.
