Visiting writers give insight into their work
Two authors presented to students about their experience as authors
MICHAEL LINDER | The Daily Evergreen
Author Pam Houston, reads some of her work to the gathered WSU students and faculty during the Visiting Writers Series Monday at the WSU Museum of Art.
October 26, 2017
The WSU Honors College, ASWSU and the Student Entertainment Board collectively brought in two writers and University of California, Davis, professors Monday as a part of the Visiting Writer Series.
Greg Glazner, a poet, has won the Walt Whitman Awards and the Bess Hokin Award for poetry. He also teaches fine arts to graduate students at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.
Glazner began his presentation with what he referred to as a “set up” to his poem. He explained that this “set up” allows the audience to “image that I wrote it and it was awesome.”
In his set up, Glazner provided the setting: rural Oklahoma. His main character was a man who believed to have the spirit of a dead man, whom he called “brother,” living inside of him.
Glazner then proceeded with a monologue from the possessed man.
Poet Greg Glazner entertains the audience with stories and his poetry during the Visiting Writers Series held on Monday at the WSU Museum of Art.
After the monologue, he presented a short story, a personal anecdote that took place at a baseball game.
He described a very unfortunate and embarrassing incident in which a baseball hit him while he was walking back from the concessions stand, leaving him in the care of some rather terrifying paramedics. At the end, the pitcher who threw the ball signed it for him, as did another player who was from Glazner’s hometown.
Pam Houston, who writes short stories, novels and essays, read a short story about a 50-year-old woman named Sally.
Sally was a prison psychologist. She had just returned from Mongolia and was about to present at a training for psychology students in Missouri, teaching them about how to work in prisons.
Details of Sally’s trip and past experiences in prison work appeared in the story, as did the speech she gave to the psychology students in her presentation.
Sally’s childhood experiences and how they affected her current life were also present in Houston’s story.
Houston later said that “Sally is me if I worked in a prison.”
The next and final presentation in the Visiting Writer Series is a comedy performance featuring Ted Tremper. This performance is at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at Wadleigh Theatre.
