Joyce Carol Oates, Robin Morgan, Paul Kurtz, C. Welton Gaddy, and Steve Benson Headline the Forthcoming AHA Conference
March 1, 2007
Literary giant Joyce Carol Oates will receive the 2007 Humanist of the Year Award at the AHA's 66th annual conference. Called "Blazing a Humanist Trail," this exciting event will be held June 7-10, 2007, at the Red Lion Hotel on the River in Portland, Oregon. A three-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize, Oates will do a book signing after her acceptance talk on Friday evening, June 8. Copies of her most well known humanistic works will be on sale at the Humanist Bookstore.
Also taking the award podium will be Humanist Heroine Robin Morgan, a feminist leader and former editor of MS. Magazine; Humanist Arts Awardee Steve Benson, one of the top ten editorial cartoonists in the nation; Humanist Religious Liberty Awardee C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance; and Humanist Lifetime Achievement Awardee Paul Kurtz, president of the Center for Inquiry.
Also featured will be stimulating breakout sessions on such topics as nonviolence, international human rights, reproductive rights, church-state separation, science and religion, the evolution of religion, Humanism in the UUA, living the Humanist lifestyle, the AHA's media campaign, how to perform Humanist weddings, and how Humanists can lobby politicians. Moreover, there will be a symposium for Humanist grassroots organizers and activists, a special mini course in Humanism offered by the Humanist Institute, a panel of international Humanist aid workers addressing Humanist humanitarianism, and a child and youth program with an intergenerational component. (So bring the kids!)
Beyond this, Humanist videos will be offered as well as musical entertainment at each of the gala banquets. A dramatic play about Robert G. Ingersoll is also planned, along with a hilarious auction conducted by Arthur Jackson performing as a wild tent evangelist! A thrilling postconference tour of scenic Oregon wraps up the weekend.
For regularly updated details on the conference, and to register online, visit the AHA conference website at www.americanhumanist.org/conference.
