We Have Writers Too!

It's a quiet night. The Creative Writing Club Spoken Word event started a little late, as there were only five people in attendance and three readers on the sign-up board. The people got their bread and wine and sat down to watch the writers read their own work (including yours truly). As the event continued, the reader count spiked from three to ten as people came in and found the confidence to read their work in a room full of strangers.

There are few atmospheres that would have been more comfortable than this one. Everybody in the audience was considerate, listened attentively, and all writers were sent off with enthusiastic applause. This is not like most club events where you stand around and socialize (although there were frequent wine breaks), it's a showcase of the relatively unknown writers and poets of AUP from people you wouldn't expect. A variety of works were read: some were stories that read as personal and intimate, others were of the more abstract nature. Some were just funny.

I was able to get a statement from club president Danica Cortez after the event. She told me, "We're trying to do at least three, four meetings a semester and a spoken word night a month. We're trying to work with the White Mask theatre club to come up with more events. I'm trying to set up a community and it's open for anybody."

The spoken word events are set up with collaboration with the White Hat Theatre club and the Paris Atlantic magazine, which is filled with creative writing works of AUP students. The magazine is taking submissions until November 6th and the online version can be found here.