Telling tales // Columbia gathers fiction writers to celebrate the art

The Story Week Festival of Writers, which begins today,highlights five authors as diverse as their wide-ranging works.

The lineup at Columbia College includes a thirtysomething NewYorker, an Egyptian doctor once jailed, a Chicagoan whose firstnovel - 21 years in the making - was published last year, a sciencefiction writer and an author of children's books.

"The authors represent a striking range of backgrounds, subjectsand voices - a range certainly in keeping with the diversity ofwriting found in Columbia fiction writing students themselves," saidDr. Randall Albers, chairman of Columbia's fiction writingdepartment.Here's the lineup of free events:Today, Scott Heim, 1:30 p.m., Ferguson Theater, 600 S. Michigan.Tuesday, Nawal El Saadawi, 7 p.m., Hokin Hall, 623 S. Wabash.Wednesday, Phyllis Eisenstein, Sandra Jackson-Opoku and LaurieLawlor, Hokin Center (Gallery), 7 p.m., 623 S. Wabash.Friday, 20th anniversary celebration of Hair Trigger magazine, 7p.m., Student Residence Center, 731 S. Plymouth Ct.Heim will read from his soon-to-be-released novel. His earlierMysterious Skin and In Awe earned him distinction as "one of 30artists under the age of 30 most likely to change the culture in thenext 30 years" by the New York Times Magazine.Dr. El Saadawi, a leading spokeswoman on the status of women inthe Arab world, is a visiting scholar at the University ofIllinois-Chicago. A psychiatrist by training, she has writtennovels, nonfiction, short stories and plays. Her outspoken views onthe oppression of women cost her her job as director general of theEgyptian Ministry of Health. She was jailed in 1981 for criticizingthe government. Her novel Memoirs From the Women's Prison waswritten during her imprisonment, on toilet paper with an eyelinerpencil borrowed from a fellow inmate.Three authors who are part-time faculty members of Columbia'sfiction writing department will team up for Wednesday night'spresentation.Jackson-Opoku's novel, The River Where Blood is Born, startedas a travelogue of her first trip to Africa. The intergenerationaltale charts the journey of an African woman and her decendants over200 years.Lawlor is the author of five Addie Mills books. She was afreelance writer and editor before devoting herself full-time tochildren's books.Eisenstein, who says she "inhaled science fiction as a child,"knew from age 8 she wanted to be a science fiction writer. Born toExile and Sorcerer's Son are among her titles.The "Hair Trigger 20" party celebrates the college'saward-winning fiction magazine. Contributors past and present willread.For more information, call (312) 663-1600.