By Jeff Samoray, OU Web Writer

Detroit-based writer Elmore Leonard has been entertaining readers around the world with his short stories, novels and screenplays for more than 50 years. The public will have the chance to hear the maestro of the crime novel read from his works and participate in a question and answer session at Oakland University’s Far Field Retreat for Writers Saturday, May 22, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Oakland Center. There is no charge to attend the reading.

Leonard published his first short story, “Trail of the Apache,” in 1951 in “Argosy” magazine. Dozens of stories and five novels later, he quit his ad agency job to devote himself full-time to fiction writing. Among his novels that have been adapted into films are “Get Shorty,” starring John Travolta, and “Out of Sight,” starring George Clooney. Noted director Quentin Tarantino directed “Jackie Brown,” a film based on Leonard’s novel “Rum Punch.” Tarantino also has plans to bring three more Leonard novels to the silver screen.

Leonard’s Far Field Retreat appearance is part of the four-day program to be held May 20-23. The conference presents writers with opportunities to become inspired and learn the craft of fiction, poetry or creative nonfiction. Participants can spend entire days developing their work, then share those works with a supportive group of fellow writers.

Retreat participants will work with guest faculty who are committed teachers and prominent writers both locally and nationally. Each faculty member will conduct writing workshops, usually with 12 students, to create new works or polish older ones in a creative, interactive atmosphere. The retreat also features readings by faculty and writers; question and answer sessions; craft lectures and other sessions on the writing life; use of the university's recreation, library and computer facilities; and several group meals, including an opening evening dinner at Meadow Brook Hall.

The guest faculty include Gladys Cardiff, assistant professor of English at Oakland University; Alan Cheuse, professor of English and creative writing at George Mason University; Annie Gilson, assistant professor of English at Oakland University; Dennis Hinrichsen, poet and instructor at Lansing Community College; Mary Ann Samyn, conference director and assistant professor of English at West Virginia University; and Sue William Silverman, award-winning novelist and associate editor of the literary journal “Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction."

Gladys Cardiff is the author of “To Frighten a Storm” and “A Bare Unpainted Table.” A member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, her poems have appeared in many anthologies of Native American poetry including: “Carriers of the Dream Wheel,” “Songs from This Earth on Turtle’s Back” and “Harper’s Anthology of Twentieth Century Native American Poetry.”

Alan Cheuse is a highly praised lecturer who has spoken at conferences on the arts, numerous book clubs around the country, writers conferences, Jewish community centers, Elderhostel seminars, Rotary clubs, on cruise ships, and at hundreds of universities. In addition to his regular appearances on National Public Radio’s evening news-magazine “All Things Considered,” Cheuse has appeared on the “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” and many other broadcasting venues. He has taught fiction and nonfiction writing and literature at such distinguished institutions as the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia. He has been a member of the writing faculty at George Mason University since 1987.

Annie Gilson is the author of the novel “New Light,” forthcoming from Black Heron Press. She is currently at work on a second novel and a collection of short fiction. She has won prizes for her fiction and poetry from the Writing Program at Washington University in St. Louis, where she got her Ph.D. She has taught fiction writing and literature at Washington University and is currently an assistant professor of creative writing and 20th century British literature at Oakland University.

Dennis Hinrichsen is the author of three full-length collections of poetry: “The Attraction of Heavenly Bodies,” “The Rain That Falls This Far,” and most recently, “Detail from the Garden of Earthly Delights,” which won the 1999 Akron Poetry Prize. A fourth collection, “Cage of Water,” will be published by the University of Akron Press in 2004. He has a BA in English from Western Michigan University and an MFA from the University of Iowa. Among his awards and achievements are a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, two grants from the Michigan Council for the Arts, and prizes from The Carolina Quarterly and Poetry Northwest. His work has appeared in numerous journals including “AGNI,” “Black Warrior Review,” “Crab Orchard Review,” “Field,” “Notre Dame Review,” “Passages North” and “Third Coast.”

Mary Ann Samyn most recently published the book “Inside the Yellow Dress” (New Issues, 2001). Among her awards for poetry are the Emily Dickinson Prize from the Poetry Society of America, the James Wright Poetry Prize from Mid-American Review and the Ohio State University Press/ The Journal Prize.

Sue William Silverman is the author of a memoir, “Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You,” which won the Associated Writing Programs Award Series in creative nonfiction and is in its fifth printing. “Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey Through Sexual Addiction” (W. W. Norton), her second memoir, is under development for a Lifetime Television original movie. Her books have been translated into German, Japanese, Norwegian and Chinese.

For more information on the conference, visit the Far Field Retreat for Writers Web site or contact Mary Ann Samyn at farfield@oakland.edu.