Lowney Handy, founder and
namesake of the Marshall, Ill., Handy Writers’ Colony, believed that
the literary potential of writers could best be achieved by firmly
controlling every facet of their creative and social lives. Many pupils
left not long after arrival, unwilling to tolerate Handy’s
authoritarianism; others she was able to mold into award-winning novelists.
Her experiment — which lasted 15 years and has
been the focus of a documentary and several magazine articles, including in
IT [See C.D.
Stelzer, “Lowney’s Legacy,” February 21] — is the
subject of a new film to premier Thursday, Oct. 23, at 9 p.m. on local PBS
stations WILL and WSEC.
Using flashbacks and interviews with Marshall
residents, scholars and former members, Inside
the Handy Writers’ Colony examines life
inside the colony and its eccentric leader, Handy. Dawn Shapiro, who wrote, directed,
and produced the documentary, relied heavily on a unique collection housed
at the University of Illinois at Springfield. University archivist Thomas Wood assisted
Shapiro in gathering photographs, letters and other documents for the film,
which was prescreened at UIS in June.
“It was very good. I was very impressed,”
Wood says.
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2008.
