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Registration still open--and walk-ups welcome!
Join us at the beautiful Montreat Conference Center for the 2nd Annual BuechnerFest--three days of enjoying and discussing the work and career of the award-winning writer and Presbyterian minister Frederick Buechner.
Sponsored by the Buechner Institute at King University, the symposium offers something for both long-time readers of Buechner and folks who may have never read Buechner but are interested in conversations that center on contemporary issues related to faith and culture. We'll roam widely in Buechner's many writings--from major works through overlooked texts to essays and sermons. With lots of time for discussion and reflection, the program will be led by members of the Institute's National Advisory Board and other friends of Fred.
Anthony S. Abbott is Professor Emeritus of English at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. He is the author of two novels and six books of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize nominated The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat. His most recent collection, If Words Could Save Us, received the 2012 Brockman-Campbell Award. Tony is past President of the North Carolina Poetry Society and the North Carolina Writers Network, and a recipient of the Sam Ragan Award for his writing and service to the literary community of North Carolina. He has lectured widely on Buechner throughout North Carolina, and his course at Davidson, “Three Contemporary American Prophets,” included Buechner, Flannery O’Connor, and Walker Percy.
Dale Brown is the founding director of the Buechner Institute and the chairperson of the Department of English at King College in Bristol, Tennessee. For twenty years, Brown was a professor of English at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan and there directed the Festival of Faith & Writing. Brown’s extensive interviews with more than 30 American writers have appeared in his books Of Faith & Fictionand Conversations with American Writers. He has also written a critical biography of Frederick Buechner, The Book of Buechner. A Rotary Scholar to Great Britain in the 1970’s, Brown has also served as a minister, traveled the country in a singing group, taught in a secondary school on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, done a stint as a police chaplain in Houston, Texas, and worked in the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects in St. Louis, Missouri. After taking degrees at the University of Houston and the University of North Wales, Brown completed his PhD at the University of Missouri. He lives in Bristol, Tennessee with his wife, Gayle, an art director for Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Joel Cunningham is professor of mathematics and vice-chancellor and president emeritus at Sewanee: The University of the South. His service as Sewanee’s president from 2000 to 2010 furthered the University’s long tradition of outstanding teaching and scholarship in its College of Arts and Sciences and its School of Theology. Previously, Cunningham was a mathematics faculty member at the University of Kentucky, dean of continuing education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and president of Susquehanna University. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Chattanooga in 1965, and he completed his master’s and doctoral degrees in mathematics at the University of Oregon in 1967 and 1969. He was introduced to Frederick Buechner by Buechner’s longtime friend and colleague George Connor. Cunningham is a member of the Buechner Institute National Advisory Board.
Jennifer Holberg Since 1998, Jennifer L. Holberg has taught English at Calvin College, where she also serves as faculty leader of the Faculty Senate. She is the founding co-editor of the journal, Pedagogy: Critical approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition and Culture, published by Duke University Press. She blogs regularly as a member of “The 12: Reformed.Done.Daily,” and her edited collection of speeches and interviews from 21 contemporary authors on the topic of faith and literature, Shouts and Whispers, was published in 2006. Holberg chairs the national advisory board for the Buechner Institute.
Thomas G. Long is the Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and the Coordinator of the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology. A Presbyterian minister, Dr. Long has served churches in Georgia and New Jersey. He has taught preaching for over thirty-five years — at Erskine Theological Seminary, Columbia Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and, since 2000, at Candler. Dr. Long has served as the president of the Academy of Homiletics and as senior homiletics editor of the New Interpreter’s Bible. He has been editor ofTheology Today, is currently an associate editor of Journal for Preachers, and serves as an editor-at-large at The Christian Century. He is the author of textbooks on preaching and worship, collections of sermons, and biblical commentaries on Matthew and Hebrews. In 2011, he was awarded the Emory Williams prize for excellence in teaching by Emory University. He delivered the 2006 Lyman Beecher Lectures in Preaching at Yale Divinity School, and these have been published as Preaching from Memory to Hope. His most recent books are Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral and What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith. Tom is a member of the Buechner Institute National Advisory Board.
Marilyn McEntyre will open the 2013 BuechnerFest with a talk on “Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies,” which is the title of one of her recent books. A poet and former Professor of English at Westmont College, now teaching at U.C. Berkeley, McEntyre holds a B.A. from Pomona College, an M.A. from UC-Davis and a doctorate from Princeton University. An author, teacher, scholar, retreat leader, and a fellow of Westmont’s Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts, she has received several awards for outstanding teaching. McEntyre’s scholarly interests include Hawthorne (the subject of another of her books, Reading Like a Serpent, published in 2012), Melville, Faulkner, and O’Connor. She has also published and lectures frequently in the field of “medical humanities,” which addresses cultural and narrative dimensions of medical practice. Her most recent book, Patient Poets: Illness from Inside Out, reflects on what caregivers can learn from poetry by patients. Marilyn is a member of the Buechner Institute National Advisory Board.
Jeff Munroe is Vice President of Advancement and Communications at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and Western Theological Seminary and an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. He served on the staff of Young Life for 29 years, most recently as director of that ministry in Western Europe. Jeff is an avid Buechner-phile, a member of the Buechner Institute Advisory Board and is one book short (The Entrance to Porlock) of completing his Buechner collection. He and his wife live in Holland, Michigan and are the parents of two grown children.
John McCutcheon No one remembers when the neighbors started calling the McCutcheons to complain about the loud singing from young John’s bedroom. It didn’t seem to do much good, though. For, after a shaky, lopsided battle between piano lessons and baseball (he was a mediocre pianist and an all-star catcher), he had “found his voice” thanks to a cheap mail-order guitar and a used book of chords. From such inauspicious beginnings, John McCutcheon has emerged as one of our most respected and loved folksingers. As an instrumentalist, he is a master of a dozen different traditional instruments, most notably the rare and beautiful hammer dulcimer. His songwriting has been hailed by critics and singers around the globe. His thirty recordings have garnered every imaginable honor including seven Grammy nominations. He has produced over twenty albums of other artists, from traditional fiddlers to contemporary singer-songwriters to educational and documentary works. His books and instructional materials have introduced budding players to the joys of their own musicality. And his commitment to grassroots political organizations has put him on the front lines of many of the issues important to communities and workers. More information….
Comprehensive rates below include conference fee, room in Assembly Inn or Winsborough (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights), meals including a banquet in the Galax Dining Room (Thursday supper through Sunday breakfast), plus a $3 community services fee per person for public services provided by the Town and the fire district. All rates include N.C. sales tax. Rooms are assigned on a first come, first served basis.
Regular Rates for Participants Staying in the Assembly Inn:
Special Rates for Students Staying in the Winsborough:
We have reserved two blocks of rooms for this conference. When you make your reservation online, please enter the group ID “FRED” and enter password “MONTREAT” to access rooms in Assembly Inn. If you qualify for the student rate, please enter the group ID “STUDNT” and enter password “MONTREAT” to access special student housing in the Winsborough. If you have any questions about the registration process, please email the registrar at SusanA[at]montreat.org or call 800.572.2257 ext. 339.
Buechner InstituteRegister for program, housing, and meals
Commuter rate below includes conference fee plus a $3 community services fee per person for public services provided by the Town and the fire district.
The following optional meal packages for the Galax Dining Room may be requested when you register online. All rates include N.C. sales tax.
Buechner InstituteRegister for program only
Cancellations must be received by April 18 in order to receive a full refund less a $25 service charge. Cancellations received after April 18 but on or before May 23 will receive a 50% refund of the conference fee and payments made toward room and meal charges (if applicable) less $40. No refunds will be issued after May 23. All requests must be in writing and received via email, fax, or U.S. mail.
Make sure to check back here often, or become a fan of the Buechner Institute on Facebook. Email if you have questions or would like to be on our mailing list. Come see us if you are in the neighborhood.
On April 15, The Buechner Institute at King University will welcome back author, commentator, and undertaker Thomas Lynch as the final speaker in the 2012-13 Buechner Lecture Series.
MoreThe Buechner (Beek-ner) Institute at King University will be hosting the second annual BuechnerFest at Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, N.C., May 30 through June 2, 2013.
MoreCaryl Griffin, founder of the Elizabeth R. Griffin Research Foundation, will speak at King University on Monday, April 8, 2013 as part of the Buechner Institute Lecture Series.
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