A literature course built around living Oklahoma authors will be offered during the first half of the spring semester.

Taught by OCCC English Professor Bertha Wise, Contemporary Oklahoma Writers is being offered through the Oklahoma City Downtown College, said Director Gus Pekara.

This class will meet from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday evenings in the Ronald J. Norick Library at 300 Park Ave. in downtown Oklahoma City.

The class will discuss a different book, or sometimes two short works, each night, Wise said.

The reading list includes:

• Clifton Taulbert’s memoir “Once Upon A Time When We Are Colored.”

• Tim Tingle’s “Walking the Choctaw Road,” a collection of Choctaw stories.

• Marcia Preston’s family mystery story, “The Wind Comes Sweeping.”

• Billie Lett’s “Shoot the Moon,” a novel filled with humor and pathos.

• Rilla Askew’s “Harpsong,” about the 1930s dustbowl.

• Joyce Carol Thomas’s novel, “House of Light.”

Also, the students will be studying contemporary Oklahoma poets, Wise said. The poets to be studied will include Diane Glancy, Linda Hogan, Carl Sennhenn, Carol Hamilton, Ken Hada, Jim Barnes, Dorothy Alexander, Nathan Brown, Sandra Soli, Richard Rouillard, Hannibal B. Johnson, and others.

Two separate panel discussions are scheduled.

The discussion on prose writers will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Feb. 10. Among the writers who have confirmed their attendance are Askew, Tingle and Preston, Wise said.

The poetry panel will be from 6:30 to 8 p.m. March 3.

Among the poets who have committed to attend are Hamilton, Hada, Brown, and Soli, Wise said.

A prerequisite of English 1113 is needed for this course.

The class will satisfy a humanities requirement for students pursuing associate degrees, Pekara said.