The 2006 D.H. Lawrence Festival celebrates the writer in a full-day event this Friday, Sept. 22, in Taos at the Taos Community Auditorium. There will be dancing, poetry performances and passionate tributes to the beauty of New Mexico as Taos literary and arts luminaries and Taos High students celebrate D.H. Lawrence’s time in New Mexico.
Photo: D.H. Lawrence
The British writer, a pioneer in frank portrayals of relationships between men and women, lived near San Cristobal for 18 months in the 1920’s. He was a master of nature poetry and short stories.
Films
The festival begins at 10 a.m. with Taos Mayor Bobby Duran reading a proclamation honoring Lawrence, followed by “Priest of Love” with Ian McKellen as D.H. Lawrence and Ava Gardner as Mabel Dodge Luhan. The film also stars John Gielgud.
At 1:30 p.m. “Women in Love,” starring Glenda Jackson, Alan Bates, Oliver Reed and Jennie Linden, will be screened. Jackson won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role opposite the menacing Reed.
Book Signing
Art Bachrach, longtime owner of Moby Dickens Bookshop, will sign his new book, “D.H. Lawrence in New Mexico: The Time is Different There” in the TCA lobby from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Charlie Strong’s sculpted heads of Lawrence will also be on display and on sale. Winners of the essay and poetry contests will also be announced.
Live Performances
Steve Rose, veteran host of several World Heavyweight Championship Poetry Bouts, is emcee for an evening that includes Jenny Vincent, Steve Parks, Magdalene Smith, Larry Torres, Veronica Golos, Roberta Courtney Meyers and surprise guests telling stories and reading Lawrence’s work and their own. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Taos Community Auditorium.
Nancy Jenkin’s Taos High students will recite a rich array of Lawrence poems about animals, school and “the Dark Gods,” interwoven with music and dance.
Tickets
Tickets for the full day’s events, including the evening program, are $10 or $8 for those who come in Lawrence-era costume. Tickets are available at Taos Center for the Arts, (505) 758-2052 or Taos Center for the Arts, and at Moby Dickens Bookshop, (505) 758-3050 at 124-A Bent St. in Taos.
Taos Community Auditorium at the Taos Center for the Arts is located at 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte near the plaza. (505) 758-4677
The 2006 D.H. Lawrence Festival is a fund-raiser and friend-raiser for the Friends of D.H. Lawrence. The Friends are dedicated to furthering the tradition of creativity envisioned by the writer’s widow, Frieda Lawrence, when she gave the D.H. Lawrence Ranch, near San Cristobal, to UNM, and to the preservation and development of the ranch as a center for writers.
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu