Rallying the literary troops

For Peckham, the truth is very important.

“People see it in all the genres (of literature),” she said.

This year’s installment of A Rally of Writers will be held April 18 at the West Campus of Lansing Community College. A free Friday night kickoff event featuring Russ McLogan, author of “Boy Soldier,” and Mark Woodbury, author of “Trinity Flight.” The two authors will discuss their World War II memoirs 7 p.m. April 17 at Schuler Books in Eastwood Towne Center.

Jack Lessenberry, the Michigan Public Radio commentator, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker. His talk, Peckham said, will discuss how writing has changed over the last decade.

He also will conduct a workshop on how freelancers can better market their writing.

A seasoned media veteran, Lessenberry has been writing for more than 38 years. He began writing for the Toledo Blade, covering the night police beat and then moved into local politics. Because the Blade had circulation across the state line into Michigan, he became interested in Michigan politics — which he still covers on his regular radio appearances.

In addition to his commentary for Michigan Public Radio, he is a contributing editor and columnist for the Detroit Metro Times, Dome Magazine, and the Traverse City Record-Eagle. He also serves as ombudsman and hosts the weekly public affairs program "Deadline Now" on WGTE-TV in Toledo.

Lessenberry’s day job as head of Wayne State University’s journalism program puts him on the front lines of the dramatic changes in journalism. The vastly changing landscape for journalists requires different skills and attitudes.

“It’s still possible to make a living as freelance writers professionally,” Lessenberry said. “Our new generation of writers won’t have to ‘find a job’ but rather they will have to create a job and be much more entrepreneurial.”

He sees the industry as more inviting for freelancers than it was in the past.

“When I started you couldn’t make a living as a freelancer,” he said.

He said he does miss what he calls “intellectual furniture,” the common body of knowledge society previously had from reading newspapers and watching the 6 o’clock news.

He said today’s students are technologically far ahead, but, since they don’t read as much, they lack things like grammatical skills when they come to college. He compares the trend of citizen-journalists (bloggers) to “writing on a big wall or for the church bulletin.”

One of the examples he points to is the citizen-journalist coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, which he calls “dubious.” It is here that Lessenberry, like many journalists, is not always on solid ground — questioning the credibility of citizen-journalists while defending the sanctity of professional journalists.

You only have to look to the Rolling Stone coverage of the alleged rape at the University of Virginia or New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s weapons of mass destruction claims to see that professional journalists are also capable of dubious reporting.

This year, A Rally of Writers has 16 breakout sessions featuring top novelists, memoirists, poets, crime writers and mystery writers. Several of the writers have won the Michigan Notable Book Award, including Mardi Link, Lev Raphael, Keith Taylor and one of this year’s winners, Monica McFawn.

The Grand Valley State University affiliate professor’s book, “Bright Shards of Somewhere Else,” also won the prestigious 2013 Flannery O’Connor Award for short stories.

Local mystery writer and memoirist Lev Raphael, who once said he was finished writing mysteries, will talk about what pulled him back to that genre to author his 25th book, the thriller “Assault with a Deadly Lie,” about the topical subject of militarized police forces.

Other writers will discuss writing comic books, magazine articles and how to deal with the dreaded “writer’s block.” Writers also will get an inside look at the bookstore industry from two owners of independent bookstores, Robin Agnew of Aunt Agatha’s mystery bookstore in Ann Arbor and Bill Fehsenfeld, co-owner of Schuler Books.

A Rally of Writers

9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18 (see website for registration fees) LCC West Campus 5708 Cornerstone Drive, Lansing arallyofwriters.com

Rally Warm-Up: “Narratives of WWII”

7 p.m. Friday, April 17 FREE Schuler Books, Eastwood Towne Center 2820 Towne Centre Blvd., Lansing (517) 316-7495, schulerbooks.com/event