Registration open for OBU’s Lamppost 2026 Literary Conference

Registration is now open for Oklahoma Baptist University’s Lamppost 2026 Literary Conference, which will be held Friday, Oct. 9, on the OBU campus. The free conference is designed for educators, homeschool parents, co-op instructors and students who are interested in teaching and studying the Great Books of the Western tradition.

This year’s conference theme, “Take Up and Read,” is drawn from Augustine’s Confessions. The conference will explore the transformative power of reading the Great Books and how timeless works can shape lives, deepen understanding and inspire the pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness.

Registration opens at 7:30 a.m., followed by a welcome session at 8:30 a.m. in the Geiger Center, Rooms 219-220. The day will feature separate educator and student tracks with breakout sessions offered simultaneously throughout the morning.

Educator sessions will focus on teaching some of the most influential works in Western literature, including The Iliad and The Odyssey, The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, the writings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the poetry of T.S. Eliot. Additional sessions will explore approaches to homeschooling through literature and classical education.

Students will participate in breakout sessions centered on Homer’s Odyssey, Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, and creative writing through a short-story workshop.

The conference luncheon will feature keynote speaker Dr. Jennifer Frey, a philosopher, writer and nationally recognized advocate for the liberal arts. Following lunch, attendees will gather as educators participate in a Great Books panel discussion while students take part in a campus scavenger hunt. The conference will conclude with closing remarks before 3 p.m.

Frey is the host of the Sacred and Profane Love podcast and has written for The Wall Street Journal, First Things, The New York Times and other publications. She serves as a faculty fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America and as a Newbigin Interfaith Fellow with The Carver Project.

She has previously held faculty appointments at the University of Chicago, the University of South Carolina and the University of Tulsa. She recently joined the faculty at the University of Virginia.

Throughout the day, OBU faculty members will lead breakout sessions designed to help educators and students engage more deeply with classic texts. Whether participants are encountering works such as The Iliad or The Divine Comedy for the first time or have taught them for years, the conference offers opportunities to deepen understanding and strengthen teaching.

Lamppost 2026 is facilitated by OBU’s Division of Language and Literature.

For more information and to register, visit the Lamppost Literary Conference webpage, okbu.edu/events/lamppost/.