Richard Gwin/Journal World PhotoSo many people want to come to next year’s symposium on poet Langston Hughes that organizers may have to cut off registrations.
About 300 people have registered so far. And with almost two months remaining before the Feb. 7-10 event, the symposium may reach 500 participants the limit they’ve set because of concerns about the availability of hotel rooms.
“I think it’s a real triumph for the community,” said Bill Tuttle, professor of American studies at Kansas University and one of the organizers.
About 75 presenters are scheduled to be in Lawrence, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover. Other presenters are from across the United States and from Senegal, France, Spain and Japan.
The symposium will include poetry readings, a workshop for teachers, film screenings and interpretive dance.
Other groups in Lawrence also will be having events to honor Hughes, who spent much of his childhood in Lawrence and would have turned 100 years old on Feb. 1, 2002. He died in 1967.
Those events include a musical program on American composers Feb. 5 at the Lied Center and a birthday party Feb. 9 at the Lawrence Public Library.
A list of events can be found at www.kuce.org/hughes.
Registration fees are $75 before Jan. 18 and $100 afterward. But vouchers for Lawrence residents to attend free are still available at KU Continuing Education, 1515 St. Andrews Drive. The Lawrence City Commission approved $7,000 for 200 residents to attend free.
Organizers have been busy raising funds to cover symposium costs and provide registration at discounted rates. Maryemma Graham, a KU English professor, said about $275,000 has been raised just enough to cover the cost of the symposium.
Recent gifts announced were $5,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., and $10,000 from Shook Hardy and Bacon, a Kansas City law firm.
Organizers also are raising money for a series of Hughes poetry circles that will begin next fall. They already received a $40,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for planning the circles and are applying for another $300,000 grant to have them in 20 cities across the country.
Richard Gwin/Journal World PhotoSo many people want to come to next year’s symposium on poet Langston Hughes that organizers may have to cut off registrations.
About 300 people have registered so far. And with almost two months remaining before the Feb. 7-10 event, the symposium may reach 500 participants the limit they’ve set because of concerns about the availability of hotel rooms.
“I think it’s a real triumph for the community,” said Bill Tuttle, professor of American studies at Kansas University and one of the organizers.
About 75 presenters are scheduled to be in Lawrence, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover. Other presenters are from across the United States and from Senegal, France, Spain and Japan.
The symposium will include poetry readings, a workshop for teachers, film screenings and interpretive dance.
Other groups in Lawrence also will be having events to honor Hughes, who spent much of his childhood in Lawrence and would have turned 100 years old on Feb. 1, 2002. He died in 1967.
Those events include a musical program on American composers Feb. 5 at the Lied Center and a birthday party Feb. 9 at the Lawrence Public Library.
A list of events can be found at www.kuce.org/hughes.
Registration fees are $75 before Jan. 18 and $100 afterward. But vouchers for Lawrence residents to attend free are still available at KU Continuing Education, 1515 St. Andrews Drive. The Lawrence City Commission approved $7,000 for 200 residents to attend free.
Organizers have been busy raising funds to cover symposium costs and provide registration at discounted rates. Maryemma Graham, a KU English professor, said about $275,000 has been raised just enough to cover the cost of the symposium.
Recent gifts announced were $5,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., and $10,000 from Shook Hardy and Bacon, a Kansas City law firm.
Organizers also are raising money for a series of Hughes poetry circles that will begin next fall. They already received a $40,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for planning the circles and are applying for another $300,000 grant to have them in 20 cities across the country.
Richard Gwin/Journal World PhotoSo many people want to come to next year’s symposium on poet Langston Hughes that organizers may have to cut off registrations.
About 300 people have registered so far. And with almost two months remaining before the Feb. 7-10 event, the symposium may reach 500 participants the limit they’ve set because of concerns about the availability of hotel rooms.
“I think it’s a real triumph for the community,” said Bill Tuttle, professor of American studies at Kansas University and one of the organizers.
About 75 presenters are scheduled to be in Lawrence, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover. Other presenters are from across the United States and from Senegal, France, Spain and Japan.
The symposium will include poetry readings, a workshop for teachers, film screenings and interpretive dance.
Other groups in Lawrence also will be having events to honor Hughes, who spent much of his childhood in Lawrence and would have turned 100 years old on Feb. 1, 2002. He died in 1967.
Those events include a musical program on American composers Feb. 5 at the Lied Center and a birthday party Feb. 9 at the Lawrence Public Library.
A list of events can be found at www.kuce.org/hughes.
Registration fees are $75 before Jan. 18 and $100 afterward. But vouchers for Lawrence residents to attend free are still available at KU Continuing Education, 1515 St. Andrews Drive. The Lawrence City Commission approved $7,000 for 200 residents to attend free.
Organizers have been busy raising funds to cover symposium costs and provide registration at discounted rates. Maryemma Graham, a KU English professor, said about $275,000 has been raised just enough to cover the cost of the symposium.
Recent gifts announced were $5,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., and $10,000 from Shook Hardy and Bacon, a Kansas City law firm.
Organizers also are raising money for a series of Hughes poetry circles that will begin next fall. They already received a $40,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for planning the circles and are applying for another $300,000 grant to have them in 20 cities across the country.
Richard Gwin/Journal World PhotoSo many people want to come to next year’s symposium on poet Langston Hughes that organizers may have to cut off registrations.
About 300 people have registered so far. And with almost two months remaining before the Feb. 7-10 event, the symposium may reach 500 participants the limit they’ve set because of concerns about the availability of hotel rooms.
“I think it’s a real triumph for the community,” said Bill Tuttle, professor of American studies at Kansas University and one of the organizers.
About 75 presenters are scheduled to be in Lawrence, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker and actor Danny Glover. Other presenters are from across the United States and from Senegal, France, Spain and Japan.
The symposium will include poetry readings, a workshop for teachers, film screenings and interpretive dance.
Other groups in Lawrence also will be having events to honor Hughes, who spent much of his childhood in Lawrence and would have turned 100 years old on Feb. 1, 2002. He died in 1967.
Those events include a musical program on American composers Feb. 5 at the Lied Center and a birthday party Feb. 9 at the Lawrence Public Library.
A list of events can be found at www.kuce.org/hughes.
Registration fees are $75 before Jan. 18 and $100 afterward. But vouchers for Lawrence residents to attend free are still available at KU Continuing Education, 1515 St. Andrews Drive. The Lawrence City Commission approved $7,000 for 200 residents to attend free.
Organizers have been busy raising funds to cover symposium costs and provide registration at discounted rates. Maryemma Graham, a KU English professor, said about $275,000 has been raised just enough to cover the cost of the symposium.
Recent gifts announced were $5,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., and $10,000 from Shook Hardy and Bacon, a Kansas City law firm.
Organizers also are raising money for a series of Hughes poetry circles that will begin next fall. They already received a $40,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for planning the circles and are applying for another $300,000 grant to have them in 20 cities across the country.
