Writer To Perform For Collective

AUTHOR CHRONICLED HIS SABBATICAL WALK

By Pat Donnelly

Posted: November 22, 2009 at 2:54 a.m.

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Join Ozark Poets and Writers Collective at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hammontree’s, 205 N.

Dickson St. in Fayetteville, when the group will feature choral composer and travel writer Steve Cooper.

Cooper is well known as the chairman of the department of Visual and Performing Arts at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, though he will be reading from his first book, “Six Months Walking the Wilds (Of Western Europe): The Long Way to Santiago,” a journal of his sabbatical walk a few years ago.

Walking the Wilds is a comedic travelogue that includes Cooper’s meditations on everything, including the meaning of life, love and anything else that happens along the way. It’s a journal of Cooper’s 2,000-mile trekthrough Italy, France and Spain. He follows the historic pilgrimage known as El Camino de Santiago.

His route begins in the heel of Italy’s boot and runs northward to Genoa.

The trail turns west across France and over the Pyrenees mountains into Spain.

From this point in Spain, thousands of pilgrims trek across the north of Spain each year, heading for the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela as they have for more than 1,000 years.

The cathedral houses the remains of James, one of Christ’s disciples.

Initially, Cooper shed himself of most of his belongings and even his home in preparation for his pilgrimage. Hecompares this to what you have to go through to prepare for the walk, shedding yourself of all the things you don’t really need. It’s necessary to weigh, literally, the importance of every item that you will carry for the rest of your journey.

The author has found so much liberation from his journey that he has gone back and walked parts of it several times, though not from the bottom of the boot of Italy. The bookcovers his first six-month trek with all of the trials, twists and turns of his own as well as fellow travelers.

He met people from all over Spain, many points of Western Europe and other countries around the world. Their stories are all told with his particularbrand of humor.

This is our last meeting of 2009, and with the merging of the Northwest Arkansas Times and The Morning News, this column will no longer be in print. Because of the wide readership at the University campus, we moved this column over to the University of Arkansas’ student newspaper, The Traveler. You can still find the column that runs in the Free Weekly as well as on the Web site listed below. The Traveler prints every Wednesday when this column will run, and it’s also available online.

Simply go to the U of A Web site and find The Traveler in the A-Z index.

You can sign up for your electronic version there, which will come right to your e-mail account.

It has been a pleasure bringing you this information over the years! I hope you come along for the ride. The next column will be in The Traveler on Jan. 20.

OPWC will be at Hammontree’s at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street for an exciting night of entertainment by travel writer Steve Cooper. Open mic performances before and after the feature run up to four minutes of original work or a “cover.” Performances are not censored, and strong or racy language is sometimes used. Admission is free, though a hat is passed for the features. There’s also a free raffle for a book that is generously donated from the UA Press. For more information visit our new Web site: http:// ozarkwriters.wordpress.

com.

CAT DONNELLY IS A NONTRADITIONAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT IN THE CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, AND LIVES IN DURHAM WITH HER HUSBAND, TWO SONS, A PUG, THIRTY CHICKENS AND A SILLY GOAT NAMED DINGUS.

Life, Pages 13 on 11/22/2009

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