On Feb. 25, poet and novelist Idra Novey visited Wilkes University to kick off the English department’s annual Allan Hamilton Dickson Spring Writers Series.
The event included a session in Dr. Larry Kuhar’s poetry workshop class, a writing workshop and an evening reading session.
Novey has written 10 novels across three genres, including her latest poetry collection, “Soon and Wholly.” A copy of this collection was given out to the students of Dr. Kuhar’s poetry class as a gift and in preparation of Novey’s visit.
The class visit included a Q&A in which the students prepared questions to ask Novey, ranging from questions regarding writing in different forms and genres to those specifically about the poems in her collection.
Later on, Novey held a writing workshop at Kirby Hall where she formatted a four-step writing exercise for both students and faculty members.
The prompt was to come up with a museum that may or may not have existed before. The following steps involved a speaker and the perspective in which they perceived the objects they saw at the museum.
The workshop engaged both students and faculty members and allowed them to hone their craft in writing and practice communicating their work.
In the evening, a packed Kirby Hall Salon was prepared to listen to Novey’s readings from both her poetry collection “Soon and Wholly” and her novel “Take What You Need”.
Attendees were enlightened by Novey’s narrative and image-focused works and were treated after the reading to light refreshments and a book signing.
The English Department’s Spring Writers Series has only just begun. The next writer will be Helena D. Lewis who will be coming to the Kirby Hall Salon on Tuesday, March 18.
The final writer will be George Saunders who will be visiting the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center on Tuesday, April 15 and will be at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center. Online registration for his live reading event is required.