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At 7:00 p.m. on Oct. 4, Five members of Saint Leo University’s talented creative writing faculty performed their original works at the Department of Language Studies and the Arts event “Wild Gifts: A Reading by Creative Writing Faculty.” The Saint Leo community had the opportunity to listen as professors Brooke N. King, Dr. Patrick Crerand, Dr. Anne Barngrover, Dr. Steve Kistulentz, and Gianna Russo shared some of their creative pieces.
The work presented by these professors varied from poetry to excerpts from novels. Some of the stories were based on personal experiences, such as one of Dr. Barngrover’s poems where she describes her experience after Hurricane Irma. The natural disaster taught her many things, including that “the sign of eternal life was a palm beside the stream… yellowed fronds mean too much rain; it’s hard to start over after a great change, but if they’re not cut for tables or sold for seeds, palms can outlive the home.”
Other stories were pure fiction, including Dr. Kistulentz’s excerpt from his upcoming novel “Panorama,” which will be released in March. Dr. Kistulentz summarizes the plot to be about “a television commentator who is single, divorced and a mess. As a result of this plane crash that his sister died onboard, he has to raise her six-year-old son.”
This show was not only a great opportunity to listen to moving creative works, it was also an opportunity to promote the creative writing program and individual publications. After the show Emily Miller, an English major, manned a table where the audience had the opportunity view and purchase books written by the creative writing faculty. Also available were collections published by the university, including “Rebus” and “The Sandhill Review.” In the back of the auditorium sat faculty from graduate admissions with information on Saint Leo University’s master’s program in creative writing.
This event was a successful showcase of what Saint Leo University has to offer in terms of creative writing. From the talented faculty of the Department of Language Studies and the Arts to the entertaining publications by the university.
