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”
Written by Elsa Kim, Creative Writing major Sumita Chakraborty—essayist, scholar, and author of Arrow—strode to the podium. Setting down her sheaves of notes, she held up her phone. “I’ve set a duck noise timer,” she told us with a smile, “When the duck quacks I know I’ve run out of time.” Having introduced us to …
Continue reading “An Act of Remembrance: Visiting Writers Sumita Chakraborty and Noé Alvarez”
Written by Anna Snader, a freshman at Hope studying Social Studies Education with an interest in English Accompanied by soft piano music and the warm lights of Winants Auditorium, Michael X. Wang and Melissa Valentine read us their stories for the 40th anniversary of The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series. First, we heard from Michael …
Continue reading “Speaking Truth: Visiting Writers Melissa Valentine and Michael X. Wang”
Written by Piper Daleiden, Hope College English and Psychology Major, Student Managing Editor for the English Department As part of the NEA Little Read Lakeshore, Matt de la Peña visited Hope College, where he spoke in classes, presented to elementary school children from the area, and finished with a keynote speech. De la Peña is …
Continue reading “An Author Stops on 10th Street: Matt de la Peña with the Little Read Lakeshore”
