2008 Woodie Awards
Famous authors come to the College for English course
Emily Rabson
Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: News
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For the first time since 2003, Living Writers is being offered at the College. An exceptionally large English class composed of two sections, the course is team-taught by Dr. Alec Marsh, Associate Professor of English and Dr. Grant Scott, Professor of English. Marsh admits that it was "very expensive and has to pretty much pay for itself. It was never simple to find authors to use in the class.
"We had to find who was available and who was affordable. We have two Pulitzer Prize winners," Marsh explained, "but there are three lesser known authors as well. Most of all, we want students to realize that writers are alive and well," said Marsh.
Poet Galway Kinnell, who won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Poetry, will give a public reading at the College on Mon., Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. in Miller Forum. Other visiting writers include Jonathan Franzen (2/12), Sue Miller (2/26) and Laurie Stone (3/19), poet Barbara Reyes (4/2) and playwright Brighde Mullins (4/23).
The class first began in 1995 but was last offered in 2003. "The program is modeled after the one at Colgate University, which was founded by Frederick Busch, a Muhlenberg College graduate…it was really his idea," said Marsh. The class is geared toward English majors. Scott recognized that this year's class contains "lots of writers" and Marsh explained that, "[This class is] also part of the Writing Concentration, so there is an emphasis on the creative writing aspect."
Scott explained the process of how writers are chosen: "Linda Miller picked four of the writers, I chose Kinnell; Marsh and I chose Reyes. We seldom choose the same writers for the course, which is now offered once every three years."
Scott declared, "We're excited!" when asked about his expectations for this semester and Rebecca Unger '09 agrees with this. "It seems exciting, and very different from the other classes. I mean, how often do you actually get to meet the people who write what we read in college? Most of them," she added, "are [already] dead."
"We had to find who was available and who was affordable. We have two Pulitzer Prize winners," Marsh explained, "but there are three lesser known authors as well. Most of all, we want students to realize that writers are alive and well," said Marsh.
Poet Galway Kinnell, who won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Poetry, will give a public reading at the College on Mon., Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. in Miller Forum. Other visiting writers include Jonathan Franzen (2/12), Sue Miller (2/26) and Laurie Stone (3/19), poet Barbara Reyes (4/2) and playwright Brighde Mullins (4/23).
The class first began in 1995 but was last offered in 2003. "The program is modeled after the one at Colgate University, which was founded by Frederick Busch, a Muhlenberg College graduate…it was really his idea," said Marsh. The class is geared toward English majors. Scott recognized that this year's class contains "lots of writers" and Marsh explained that, "[This class is] also part of the Writing Concentration, so there is an emphasis on the creative writing aspect."
Scott explained the process of how writers are chosen: "Linda Miller picked four of the writers, I chose Kinnell; Marsh and I chose Reyes. We seldom choose the same writers for the course, which is now offered once every three years."
Scott declared, "We're excited!" when asked about his expectations for this semester and Rebecca Unger '09 agrees with this. "It seems exciting, and very different from the other classes. I mean, how often do you actually get to meet the people who write what we read in college? Most of them," she added, "are [already] dead."