Professors voice need for reading events
October 19th, 2007 by Farah PikeThree CSU-Pueblo English professors read personal poetry and fiction pieces for the first Colorado Reading Series event held on Sept. 26.
Juan Morales and Aaron Anstett read poetry for the evening’s line-up and Chas Clifton read a fiction story.
Each of the professors stayed after the readings to talk with some of the 30 people who attended, including students and faculty.
The professors also voiced their opinion on how important an event like this is for the university as a whole.
“An ongoing cultural event is very healthy for our campus,” Anstett said.
Anstett said that he has attended several live readings and the experiences were all memorable.
“I am a bit of a smart alec when it comes to my writing, and a live reading allows you to express yourself and share your writing with others,” Anstett said.
Clifton said he also thinks that preformed readings are important to the campus and to the English department.
“Poetry, in particular, is a performance art and should not be restricted to the printed page,” Clifton said.
Clifton also said that other genres such as essays and creative nonfiction pieces should be made readable as well for performance.
In agreement with the other professors, Morales said he also feels that reading events are important to the university.
“I think that a live reading shows that we practice what we preach,” Morales said. “If you write something and are proud of of it, you should share it.”
Morales also said he sees an interest from his creative writing students for such reading events.
“In the future we may feature students in the readings and give them a chance to share some of their work,” Morales said.
Clifton also said he favors a possible student reading event.
“The readers were experienced in standing up in front of an audience,” Clifton said. “It is important for students to develop a performance persona too.”
An open reading night featuring students is not yet permitted and is under further discussion.
The next reading event will be on Nov. 7 at in the First Year Student Center on the second floor of the library at 7 p.m.
Lisa D. Chavez, a professor in creative writing at the University of New Mexico will be the guest speaker for the event.
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The need for a event is there but the advertising and the letting the students know about these type of events is not. As someone who regularly follows all events on campus I did not hear one thing about this. Maybe next time they can advertise and promote this event better and maybe just not to the English majors and minors.