Students and faculty gathered in the Pat Peterson Museum Education room to lend their ears to an array of talented undergraduate writers with concentrations in creative writing. Amid the lead-up to finals, the event proved itself to be a literary respite full of faculty, undergraduate and graduate students and some alumni on Wednesday, April 17.
Dr. Kerry Neville, MFA coordinator and associate professor, kicked off the night with a proud congratulations to the soon-to-be graduates.
Nine students spoke in all, and each was granted a great round of applause for pieces about a number of topics, from fathers to friends to childhood playsets to fairyland. Faculty and families snapped sneaky photos before remembering to turn off their camera shutter sounds and were quick to reconnect with their students just after the reading.
After the event, Jaci Hill, a senior English major, described her love for the program.
“I had always written poetry, but it wasn’t very good, and I think especially Kerry Evans inspired [me],” Hill said. “I’m miles better than I was when I first got here.”
Throughout her time at GC, Hill has become more empowered to write.
“I’m just more brave if that makes sense,” Hill said. “Like, I’m not afraid to put down something that may be mean or maybe something that’s culturally taboo or gross. I kind of know that everyone in workshop is gonna eat it up.”
Hill presented the crowd with a moving piece titled “My Father’s Daughter,” a poignant piece about fathers, family and a young daughter’s mixed emotions that utilizes oranges and their rinds as a vessel for the story. It is a piece she workshopped in class and is proud of.
Grace Horton, a senior English major, agreed on the benefits of workshop classes.
“I love the way they format the workshop classes because it really helps you get a consistent writing practice,” Horton said. “Then you also get feedback from not just your professor but also from other writers, which is really helpful. So, you can take inspiration from other people and then also get to share your ideas with people, so it’s just a fun time.”
Horton read a devastating piece about the loss of a grandparent and the pain it can cause daughters and granddaughters alike.
Horton also described what drew her to the GC writing program.
“When I was touring, I came here for Springfest, and I was looking at all the details about their writing program, and the whole workshop thing I thought was really interesting,” Horton said. “You get to focus on specific genres you like—also the Peacock’s Feet! I was like, ‘Oh, they have their own lit journal. That’s cool! I wanna do that! I wanna put something into that,’ so those were a big influence.”
The Peacock’s Feet is GC’s undergraduate student-run literary journal, which has published the work of multiple English students with a concentration in creative writing at the reading. The journal serves as a milestone for GC English students.
“Actually, it was my goal before I graduated,” Horton said. “I wanted to get something published before I leave, and so I was like, ‘I have to get it in this year.’”
Horton succeeded in her goal of getting published in the journal during her junior year.
Neville elaborated on the merits of the GC writing program.
“The faculty here are really committed to undergraduate creative writing,” Neville said. “We are thrilled to have students in our classes. We think it’s a great community. You have so many people on this campus that are committed to the craft of writing and to supporting each other as writers.”
GC also boasts its student-run Poetry Club as yet another element of its robust writing program.
GC’s English faculty is chock-full of accomplished writers, poetry, fiction and nonfiction alike, who take the craft of writing seriously and are eager to connect with other aspiring writers.
“The creative writing concentration offers anybody who believes in the power of words to transform human experience, to make a difference in the world, to connect us to each other through shared language even if it’s different languages,” Neville said. “It’s a way to feel connection and empathy and to make the human story in this world, where we’re all so disconnected.”
The creative writing concentration at GC offers students a diverse range of both student and faculty-led organizations, events and programs which ensure student growth — both personality and in their craft.
