“Let’s Talk About It” series discusses art of storytelling

Margaret Atwood once said in a Masterclass trailer, “Human beings are creative storytelling beings. They make art because that’s what human beings do.”

The City of Lawton Arts and Humanities Division and McMahon Auditorium Authority are building on that mindset with the continuation of their Let’s Talk About It series. This month’s discussion will focus on “The Storyteller” by Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, which will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at the McMahon Memorial Auditorium, 801 NW Ferris.

The series, titled “Writing Worlds: The Art of Seeing in Anthropology, Fiction and Autobiography,” asks how our observations are shaped by our lives and how we perceive reality, according to a press release.

Cameron University Professor William Carney, of the Department of Communication, English and Foreign Languages, will lead the discussion. A New Jersey native, Carney joined Cameron in 2007 after serving in the U.S. Air Force and earning his Ph.D at Texas Tech University.

“The Storyteller” follows a university student who leaves civilization and becomes a “storyteller” for the Machiguenga Native Americans, the release said. The novel discusses Indigenous peoples’ westernization through missions and anthropological studies and questions the perceived notion that Indigenous cultures are set in stone.

This series is made possible by Let’s Talk About It, a project of Oklahoma Humanities, with funding and support from The Kilpatrick Family Fund and Oklahoma City University.

For more information, contact Jason Poudrier at (580) 581-3470 or at [email protected].