UT’s Writers in the Library series and Creative Writing Club are coming together to bring live poetry performance and editorial guidance to campus.
Two events will take place Oct. 27 which offer UT students and guests a chance to experience live poetry readings from nationally-known editors.
Writers in the Library will host an “Editors’ Roundtable” at noon in McClung Tower, where a panel of editors will discuss the trials and errors of editing literary journals and magazines. Katherine Ann Davis, Ph.D. candidate in English at UT and editor of Grist: The Journal for Writers, will be participating in the discussion. She will be joined by poets Joyce Jenkins, editor and executive director of Poetry Flash, and Keith Flynn, founder and editor of literary journal The Asheville Poetry Review. Jenkins and Flynn will also be performing some of their work live at 7 p.m. in Hodges Library.
Davis said the panel will answers questions about what it is like to work for and edit literary magazines, what literary journals look for in submissions and will also answer questions from the audience.
“Ideally, we want to be moved on both an intellectual and an emotional level,” Davis said. “If we’re not invested in the work somehow, then we’re not going to publish it. We also look for writing that is polished — writing that feels like the writer is in control of what he or she is doing.”
Davis said UT students will get a lot of useful advice by attending the event, and they will learn tips on what to do and not do when sending out their own work. Davis recommends attending events like these, as well as readings, for a budding writer, as she credits such experiences for helping her find some of her favorite books.
“Readings are also great ways to get inspired about your own work and to participate in the creative writing community at UT,” Davis said. “They can be very uplifting experiences.”
With UT’s Writers in the Library program, Davis believes UT students have a range of opportunities open to them, and these events can provide access to great writers, their thoughts about the writing process and their work.
“I also think the editors’ discussion will be a solid resource for any writer currently submitting or interested in submitting work for publication,” Davis said. “There are many things I know now, as an editor, that I wish I’d known when I first started sending out work.”
Marilyn Kallet, director of UT’s Creative Writing Program and Nancy Moore Goslee, professor of English, said the night will be one of reading and performance in addition to the editors talking about how to submit work to literary magazines and the challenges they have faced throughout their careers as editors.
Kallet also said the evening event will be very entertaining and students will hear terrific poetry.
“Keith Flynn is also a rock/blues singer and his voice is fabulous,” Kallet said. “He usually belts out a few songs.”
Both the roundtable and the live poetry event take place Oct. 27 and are free and open to the general public.
