Satisfy your curiosity at OKC’s Curiosity Fest

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

Oklahoma Humanities will host their inaugural Curiosity Fest, a one-day festival celebrating the humanities. The event begins at noon on October 20 and will feature a selection of Oklahoma’s top humanities scholars.

Experts will bring to the audience competitive book pitches; “appearances” by historical characters; conversations about race and social issues; discussions on comics, religious curiosity, Harry Potter, a “how to play” workshop; presentations by storytellers, historians and native voices; a live BrainBox podcast recording; discussions on the intersection of politics and religion, social justice, pop culture and more.

At 1 p.m., five published authors will have the opportunity to pitch their book in 10 minutes in a category called, “I Published It, It Must Be Good!”

One of those five published authors is Sharon Bishop-Baldwin, who will talk about her book, Becoming Brave: Winning Marriage Equality in Oklahoma and Finding Our Voice.

After a 21-year editing career at the Tulsa World, Bishop-Baldwin left her job to write this book.

She said, “Mary and I have had a lot of experience over the years talking about our lawsuit. We have spoken to really diverse audiences -- law students at Stanford University, high school gay-straight alliances and a range of groups in between.

As for having 10 minutes to pitch the book to attendees, she said, “I’m pretty good at boiling down often-complex concepts into bullet-point material. In this case, for Curiosity Fest, I’ll be talking about my book, too, so the idea is, in fact, not to say too much, because I want audience members to buy the book!”

Bishop-Baldwin said she suspects a lot of people in the audience won’t be that familiar with her or the book.

The author said she is eager for Curiosity Fest. “If I weren’t participating, I would still be attending, I imagine, because the topics and speakers look so interesting.

“I really hope a lot of my LGBTQ+ friends will come and check it out, and I won’t hold it against them if they don’t come to my session! I’m a known quantity for a lot of them; I get that. But maybe they can send friends who don’t know me my direction. It’s gonna be a fun day.”

The event finale will feature NPR’s Jad Abumrad, founder of Radiolab presents his multimedia presentation “Gut-Churn”, which shows how curiosity, often manifesting as a gut-wrenching question, leads to creative solutions.

This nationally-known celebrity will take guests through how uncertainty, fear, and other negative emotions guide us in the creative process. Abumrad is popular with both radio listeners and podcast enthusiasts.

Oklahoma Humanities works to strengthen communities by helping Oklahomans learn about the human experience, understand new perspectives, and participate knowledgeably in civic life.

Tickets to Curiosity Fest are $30, $20 for students. $100 includes a reception to meet Jad Abumrad. Convenience charges may apply. Visit www.okhumanities.org for event and ticket information.

Copyright The Gayly. 10/12/2018 @ 1:09 p.m. CST.