The Offer He Can't Refuse

It's official. Mark Winegardner is now a bona fide literary big shot, according to the executive editor of Random House Publishing.

Jonathon Karp once had similar praise for the late author Mario Puzo after Puzo's The Godfather became a national bestseller. Karp's kudos came last spring when he announced that the FSU English prof had been tapped to continue Puzo's legendary Godfather saga.

Wiengardner had submitted a detailed proposal to the publishing house when it announced a search for a novelist to create an artful, popular novel about crime and power. The director of the FSU creative writing program was among a pool of more than 30 candidates.

"To be trusted with characters as close to American mythology as any you could mention is an incredible honor," said Winegardner. "It is something I take very seriously."

At first, he wasn't interested in competing for the assignment but friends and colleagues urged him to reconsider. They noted that both of his novels, The Veracruz Blues, and Crooked River Burning, contained colorful glimpses into the life of organized crime. Winegardner admits he was intrigued by the possibilities of continuing the story line of Puzo's 1969 novel centered on the fictional Corleone family. Puzo died in 1999.

Random House hopes to publish The Godfather Returns in the fall of 2004, but those plans are tentative. Winegardner plans on keeping his day job while writing the sequel. "If I didn't have a job in what I considered the best creative writing program in America I would have already quit," said Winegardner.

La vie de lettres:

An FSU-Franco Salute to Literature

It was a high point in what otherwise has been a politically vexatious new year so far between France and the U.S. Last February, FSU was host to a first-ever symposium that brought 23 noted authors from both countries to campus.

The event was a joint production of the university's creative writing program and the Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies. French national TV, F2TV, sent a crew to Tallahassee and made a two-hour program that was broadcast in Europe March 19.

Participants included French writers Olivier Rolin, a finalist for the 2002 Goncourt prize (equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize), Pierre Michon and American authors Robert Olen Butler and Jim Harrison. The public was treated to readings by some of the authors as well.

Hosting the symposium was a coup for the Winthrop-King Institute, now in its second year. The institute is dedicated to collaborative research programs to enhance French studies.

"We showcased the university's strengths to lure this event away from France," said Alec Hargreaves, the institute's director. "Our work in contemporary French studies and FSU's very successful creative writing program were both factors in convincing the French sponsor, Les Editions Verdier, to help bring the symposium here."

Shower of Fine Art & Performance Marks Fifth "Seven Days"

February brought an extraordinary fifth anniversary season for "Tallahassee: Seven Days of Opening Nights," Florida State University's festival of the fine and performing arts.

Launched in 1998, the festival draws world-renowned artists for a weeklong town-and-gown immersion into cultural events ranging from folk art to classics to cutting-edge modern. A fringe festival highlights the talents of local artists.

Among this year's features: Alonzo King's LINES Contemporary Ballet; two exhibits of glass artistry-"Trial by Fire: Contemporary Glass" and "Dale Chihuly: Seaforms"; "Duets"-a unique evening of classical ballet with pairs of dancers from the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet and London's Royal Ballet; Georgia's folk life play, "Swamp Gravy"; and actress Olympia Dukakis in her one-woman show, "Rose."

Also on the jam-packed schedule: a reading by U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins; Buster Keaton's silent-film classic, "The General," with the premiere of new music by Jeff Beal; the Southeastern premiere of innovative and imaginative Cirque ÉOS; the U.S. premiere of a 1707 baroque opera, "Semele"; and Pianist André Watts and the University Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to playing to sold-out audiences, "Seven Days" artists logged over 9,000 direct student contact hours in activities ranging from public readings and discussions to master classes and rehearsals. -F.C.