Written by Anna Stowe, Hope College Creative Writing Major, and Student Managing Editor for the English Department On April 1, the Schaap Auditorium filled with students, professors, and community members. Soft conversations drifted throughout the space, periodically broken by bursts of laughter, forming an eager audience for Ananda Lima and Roger Reeves. The auditorium lights …
Continue reading “Through the Veil: The Devil, Short Stories, and Writing as Activism”
Written by Candace Williams, Hope ’28 On the evening of February 17th, as snow blanketed campus, people filed into Schapp Auditorium. The rustling of coats and the stamping of boots obscured low conversations as the audience waited for the two Visiting Writers, both first-time visitors to Michigan. Claudia Acevedo-Quiñones was the first reader of the …
Continue reading “Art as an Act of Protest: Visiting Writers Claudia Acevedo-Quiñones and DK Nnuro”
Written by Anna Stowe, Hope College Creative Writing Major and Student Managing Editor for the English Department It’s 7 pm on November 13. Dusk has etched its colors across the sky, grayish-purply blues gathering in the shadows. The first stars glisten in the sky, soon to be obscured by dense cloud cover and drumming rain. …
Continue reading “Inspiration Is Everywhere: A Dog in the Sun and A Land Wrapped in Water”
Written by Anna Stowe, Hope College Creative Writing Major and Student Managing Editor for the English Department The co-founder of the Visiting Writers Series, Jack Ridl, taught at Hope College from 1971-2006. During this time, Jack mentored many students and fought to bring creative writing to life on Hope’s campus. All the while, Jack poured …
Continue reading “Leave Space for Kindness and Joy Every Day: An Interview with Jack Ridl”
By Anna Snader ‘26, English Literature Major and Political Science Minor On September 30th at 7:00 pm, the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series welcomed Heather Sellers, a former Hope professor, and Anna Gazmarian, a 2014 Hope alum, to read their work. After reading Devout by Anna Gazmarian and You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know …
Written by Anna Stowe, Hope College Creative Writing Major and Student Managing Editor for the English Department For many writers, the name Heather Sellers is a familiar one—we’ve all used her textbook, The Practice of Creative Writing, in an Intro to Creative Writing class. This, however, is often the only contact we have with her …
Continue reading “Making Art Is A Kind Of Play: An Interview with Heather Sellers”
Written by Abi Rhee-Vanderwall, Hope College Creative Writing and Communications major On Wednesday, March 20th, students and faculty at Hope College gathered for the newest installment of the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series. Margaret Voetberg commenced our night, welcoming the brilliant southern noir author S.A. Cosby and the profound, sensual poet James Fujinami Moore. Rebekah …
Written by Madeline Chrome ‘26 On Tuesday, February 20th, a crowd of Hope College students and faculty gathered in the dimly lit Schaap Auditorium to hear authors Tsering Yangzom Lama and Shane McCrae share their work at the latest installment of the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series. As 7 o’clock drew nearer, the chattering of …
Continue reading “Changing Environments, Changing Identities: Tsering Yangzom Lama and Shane McCrae”
Written by Piper Daleiden, Hope College English and Psychology Major, Student Managing Editor for the English Department Two chairs sat in the middle of the stage in the Jack Miller concert hall. In between them was a small table, upon which rested a simple lamp and a novel: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This setup, although …
Continue reading “Rooted in Family, Rooted in History: Big Read Author Conversation with Yaa Gyasi “
Written by Anna Stowe, Creative Writing major Down the spiral staircase nestled in the center of the Herrick District Library is an auditorium, filled with chattering spectators, all looking in anticipation toward the honey-colored stage. At 7:00 sharp, the room stilled, as eyes were drawn toward two cozy, green armchairs divided by a small table …
Continue reading “How I Met My Mother: Visiting Writers Anne-Marie Oomen and Jack Ridl”
