Best writers come calling

NEA Today, Jan 2000

Famous people keep showing up in Dowagiac, a town of about 7,000 people in western Michigan. That's no coincidence. Nine years ago NEA members Rich and Teri Frantz were trying to come up with a way to spark their high school students' literary interests and hit on the notion of inviting famous writers to come to their school to talk about their craft. Famous writers have been visiting Dowagiac ever since.

Amy Tan's been here, so have Joyce Carol Oates and Kurt Vonnegut, too. The school visits coincide with the town's annual Fine Arts Fair.

"The writers are usually willing to meet the students, because most are professors themselves, " says Teri Frantz.

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first author to come to the 75-year-old, unconditioned auditorium at Dowagiac Union High School. This fall, Joseph Heller, pictured here with Rich and Teri Frantz and two other faculty, visited to talk with students during the day, followed by an evening lecture and a wineand-cheese book signing.

"After meeting the authors, students learn to think beyond their little hometown, and they start considering things they had never thought about," notes Teri Frantz. "But the main purpose is to inspire students to want to read."