Celebrating
50 Years of the Writers’ Festival Over the years, Agnes Scott College has showcased distinguished writers and nurtured new ones. By Sara Baxter
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hen prize-winning playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger ’00 was a student at Agnes Scott College, her favorite time of year was the annual Writers’ Festival. She met writers like Jane Smiley, Pearl Cleage, Jamaica Kincaid, Eavan Boland and Joyce Carol Oates. She read their works, listened to their stories and chatted with them in person. And for the first time, she could see herself as a writer. “I loved to write and had been writing short stories and plays throughout my childhood,” Goldfinger says. “But I never knew it could be a profession. Seeing those writers, and talking to them, gave me the confidence to say to myself, ‘You can do this,’ and to go out there and try,” she says. For 50 years, distinguished poets, short story authors, novelists, playwrights and creative nonfiction writers have been a part of the Agnes Scott Writers’ Festival. They have impacted and inspired hundreds of students just like Goldfinger. “It’s been a treat to see the legacy and the importance the festival and the writers have had on the students in the writing community,” says Nicole Stamant, associate professor of English, who oversaw this year’s festival. “The Writers’ Festival is attached to the overall profile and reputation of the college as a place where writing is nurtured, respected and promoted,” adds Willie Tolliver, professor of English.
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