The Creative Writing Club’s is bringing a nationally recognized author and essayist to campus to speak on Feb. 25 at 8:00 p.m. in the University Center and Feb. 26 at 10:30 a.m. at Patterson Hall as a part of its River City Writers Series.
Jo Ann Beard is a well-known writer, most famous for her work in the New Yorker, “The Fourth State of Matter.” Beard wrote the work based off her experience with the University of Iowa’s shooting from the gunman, Gang Lu in 1991.
“She was in the physics department when this happened,” said Sonja Livingston, Series Director and English Professor for Creative Non-Fiction Writing. “Many of her friends died.”
Livingston and Matt Gallant, a 29-year-old MFA Creative Writing student and president of the Creative Writing Club invited Beard to speak at the University of Memphis.
“Her essay is different,” Livingston said. “It stands out from a personal experience with the University of Iowa shooting compared to the articles in the newspapers. She used tools of creative writing to express her work, which is why it is popular.”
Beard is part of the River City Writer’s series, which hosts four to six writers and poets annually, and was established in 1977.
“It’s one oldest reading series in the nation,” Gallant said.
The series is also part of the Creative Writing Club. The club helps fund the series from the Student Event Allocation Money, which is funded by the Student Activity Fees. The club will contact the writer and invite them to come. When the writer agrees, the club pays and creates flyers and spread the information about the event.
The event for the series lasts two days. For Beard’s event, she will read her work for about 20 minutes, the audience will ask questions, the author will sign her work and there will be a small reception afterwards. The next day, students will interview Beard.
“Students can ask Beard about her background, actual process, and craft,” said Gallant. “The interview usually lasts an hour or an hour and a half.”
The club also has a magazine called the Pinch, which publishes poets and writers from the surrounding area every semester.
“The journal is ran by grad students and we only use outside authors not Memphis students,” said Gallant. “The club works as editors for the journal. We get a bunch of submissions, decide what is going to be published, contact the author’s press and publish it. We have a 4 percent acceptance rate. We are very competitive.”
The River City Writer’s series is also tries to encourage the university’s 100 creative writing concentrations in the English Department.
“This series is to help get more writers on campus,” said Livingston “It is also to get our students in Memphis to hear people presenting their work, to learn from the masters of creative writing and get inspired. When I listen to a writer, I become really inspired after the presentation.”
The next installment of the River City Writer’s series will present Liz Robins on April 14th at 8 p.m. in the University Center and April 15th 10:30 a.m. in Patterson Hall.
