The irony of the Weber State University Undergraduate Writers Conference is that it always draws celebrity writers any "post-graduate" conference would kill to attract.
E.L. Doctorow has been on board.So has John Barth.
This year, the plum in the pudding is Carlos Fuentes, Mexico's grandmaster of modern fiction and one of the finest literary stylists in the world.
The author of "The Old Gringo" and "Terra Nostra" will deliver the keynote address on Thursday, April 1, 10 a.m., in the Shepherd Union Ballroom.
Joining Fuentes will be two other powerhouse writers, David Lee -- Utah's poet laureate -- -- and Susan Richards Shreve, author of several novels and 20 children's books and former president of the P.E.N. Faulkner Foundation.
Shreve will give a reading on Friday, April 2, 9:45 a.m., in the Special Collections of the Steward Library.
Lee will read at 2:30 p.m. on April 2 in the same place.
The conference will run April 1-3 at WSU. Sessions for undergraduates will treat "Modern American Poetry," "The New Historicism," "World Literature" among other topics.
Students will get a chance to read their original work at various locations during the three days.
For more information call Mikel Vause at 626-6659 or Carl Porter at 626-6872. -- Jerry Johnston