(AP) North Dakota Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode has named seven associates. He says the aim is to promote art in the state, along with ``an enlightened literary consciousness.''

Woiwode is one of the featured speakers this week at the University of North Dakota Writers Conference in Grand Forks.

He says he's planning a National Writers Congress on Memorial Day week next year.

The new associates are:

Madelyn Camrud, a Grand Forks native whose book of Poetry, ``This House is Filled with Cracks,'' was published in 1994.

Jamie Parsley, an Anglican priest from West Fargo who has written several books of poetry, including ``The Loneliness of Blizzards'' and ``The WoUNDed Table.''

Shadd Piehl, of Fargo, a third-generation cowboy known for cowboy poetry.

Dave Solheim, an Elgin native who was named the state's centennial poet in 1989. He's an English professor at Dickinson State University, known for his poems of the West River country.

Rick Watson, a native of Mott who has been a songwriter and poet since 1967. Watson, the director of the honors program at Minot State University, has published a book-length poem called ``Sweetheart of the Rodeo and the Roping Fool.''

Sisters Louise and Heid Erdrich do not live in the state, but are members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

Louise Erdrich, who is scheduled to deliver the U-N-D Presidential Lecture tonight, has published nine novels including ``Love Medicine,'' which won the National Books Critics Circle Award. She has also published several works of poetry.

Her sister, Heid Erdrich, a Wahpeton native, is the author of ``Fishing For Myth,'' her first book of poetry, which won a Minnesota Voices Award in 1995. | save this article / add to your favorites list