Fiction writers visit CMU; read to students
Students, faculty and Mount Pleasant community members gathered for a night of prose reading by authors Samuel Ligon and Robert Lopez.
The readings were sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the Meijer Visiting Writers Series on Oct. 3 in the Charles V. Park Library's Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium.
Ligon presented excerpts from his recently completed serial novel, "Miller Cane: A True & Exact History." The stories appeared in fifty installments in Spokane, Washington's weekly newspaper, The Inlander.
The novel tells the story of a fraudulent historian that profits off the horror of mass shootings.
Audience members burst into laughter as Ligon satires American greed, violence and historical figures.
Ligon teaches at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, serves as EWU’s Faculty Legislative Liaison in Olympia, and is Artistic Director of the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference.
"Miller Cane: A True & Exact History" was for sale and available for signing following the reading, it's also listenable in podcast form through Spokane Public Radio.
Robert Lopez is a fiction, nonfiction, and poetry writer from New York. He teaches at The New School, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University, and the Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program at Pine Manor College.
Lopez read "How to Direct a Major Motion Picture," a collaborative effort with Ligon that was featured in his collection of short stories, "Good People."
Kirkus Reviews called the collection, "Depressing, inventive, and marvelous—a thought-provoking path to feeling awful."
Following both author's readings, audience members were allowed to ask questions about their creative process, collaborative efforts, and ask for advice for up-and-coming writers.
"I would definitely recommend anyone come to these readings. This is a great opportunity to see what other people are doing in their creative outlets," Lowell junior Alyssa McIntire said.
McIntire said the majority of audience members were creative writing students getting credit for classes, but Westland graduate student Jimmy Hollenbeck attended for his own enjoyment. Westland said he has attended nearly every reading since 2013.
"It's just as entertaining as going to the movies, if not more so," Hollenbeck said. "It's a social event. Even if you don't know anybody, you get to interact with people."
The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is organizing a similar event with award-winning author and poet Tess Gallagher at 7 p.m. on Oct. 14 in the Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium.
