About 100 were in attendance for the English Department's first-ever Literary Hullabaloo, which featured literary works from both students and faculty, along with scholarship and award announcements.

The Literary Hullabaloo, held in the Powers Hall ballroom Friday evening, was complete with readings from more than 15 contributors from the spring 2012 edition of The Central Review, along with the special spring edition of the graduate student literary journal "Temenos," titled "Offsprings of an African River." Along with the readings, more than 15 awards and scholarships for students and faculty were acknowledged.

A silent auction was conducted, and the proceeds went to The Divine Mercy of God Hospital in the area of Nnarambia Ahiazu, Mbaise, in Imo State, Nigeria. Funds raised from the "Temenos" publication also went to the hospital.

Department faculty member Robert Fanning, a creative writing professor, said an event such as the hullabaloo has been long overdue, and he expects the event to continue annually.

"So many organizations came together to see the launch of both of our journals, which were amazing," Fanning said. "It's something that's long overdue and will now be an annual event to celebrate all the things that the English department does to bring and cultivate creativity on campus."

Fanning said the department has previously held separate events for awards and readings, though the hullabaloo gave students and instructors the opportunity to see the creativity of others. Fanning said he was particularly awed by the readings of faculty member Maureen Eke, whom he has never heard read her original poetry before.

"We're sitting beside students we don't always get to hear from, students are sitting beside others that they've never been in class with and professors get to see another facet of each other's creativity," Fanning said. "And that's what this is about."

Graduate student Regan Schaeffer, managing editor of "Temenos," said she thought many of the essays read at the event were wonderful and said it was great to bring the different English groups together on campus for an audience.

"I know so many different people in English groups on campus, but I've never seen them all in the same room for an event like this," Schaeffer said. "This has really been a great ending for the academic year."

Schaeffer said the staff of "Temenos" consists of only graduate students, though anyone can contribute to the publication. She said she is excited to see more inspiring contributions to the literary journal next year, when she will be editor-in-chief.

"Next year, I'll be the editor-in-chief of 'Temenos,' so I'm certainly excited about continuing some of this amazing momentum we've had this year with the publication," Schaeffer said. "I look forward to participating in both 'Temenos,' which has been a wonderful experience to see literature contributions from all over the world, and to participate in this event again as well."

Mount Pleasant senior Leigh Jajuga, assistant editor of The Central Review, said she thought the event was a great way to bring different groups involved with the English department together and provided a great audience for contributors to the publication.

"I thought it was a great way to bring the English Department together and have a great celebration to remember the semester and the entire year," Jajuga said. "I’m really looking forward to the next hullabaloo."

Jajuga, the future editor-in-chief of The Central Review, said the combined events were a great success.

"We had a great turnout for the Central Review this year," Jajuga said. "It’s always a well-attended event, but it was nice to have people from the English department and members from ‘Temenos’ as well"