Authors Offer Students Insight Into Writing Process

Continued from page 3 between him and his mother, addressing the question “Mommy, what happened to my eyes?” as Jess explained.

The readings were followed by a question-and-answer session with the poets. They discussed their inspirations, their methods of conducting research on historical subjects, and their experimentation with using physical space on a page to convey poetry. Chang and Jess share an interest in history and use their work as opportunities to learn about and share stories that have been overlooked.

LifFest Craft Talks

On Saturday and Sunday, several of the guest writers hosted “craft talks.” These events were round-table opportunities for students to get to know the writers more personally, to discuss the creative process, and participate in informal writing exercises.

As the exhibit curated by Hilton Als had just opened in the Mead the night before, his craft talk was about the relationship between “visual information” and storytelling. Als explained that when he curates an exhibit, he typically has a specific narrative in mind. For instance, he expounded the thought process underlying an exhibit he curated based on a littleknown Toni Morrison work, “The Black Book,” which details the Black experience in America. The exhibit’s works included photos of Morrison, but also paintings and sculptures from contemporary artists that Als thought reflected the writer’s work. The key point of the talk was that visual art, like words, can be used to convey stories in creative ways.

Ingrid Rojas Contreras’s craft talk was focused on both fiction and nonfiction. The theme of the discussion was dreams: how we can interpret them as another facet of our lives and what place they take in both fiction and nonfiction. She read a dream passage from her new a memoir entitled “The Man Who Could Move Clouds,” and spoke about the effect that they had on her own life. We then did an exercise that entailed us writing down all of our dreams with the statement “I remember,” to try and reframe the way that we perceived them.

Valeria Luiselli’s craft talk took place on Sunday because travel delays prevented her from being on campus on Saturday. After going around the room and introducing themselves, students were asked to write short autobiographies, and then to read them aloud. Some people wrote very formal biographies, while others were more creative and fluid in their approach. Then, Luiselli asked them to write another autobiography — this time, without using the letter “e.” After reading the new autobiographies out loud, the group discussed the value of putting constraints on writing.

In the craft talk led by Victoria Chang, participants first read an essay about what motivates a person to write before spending some time writing about what motivates them to write. Then, they read two poems, and wrote poetry inspired by the style of what they had read. Chang explained that when one is a writer at heart, no matter what they do in life or where they go, they will be pulled back to writing.

Meghan O’Rourke focused on the role of the palimpsest voice, which is nonfiction with two layers of narration — one from the past and one from the present. O’Rourke discussed the importance of

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Student interns at The Common literary magazine and alumni authors gathered to read their work.