Ancient Chinese scholars worked with a brush, but never distinguished between the one used for calligraphy and the one used for painting said Seattle award winning author Rebecca Brown. This subtle contrast and similar topics will be addressed by her at the Visiting Writers Series occurring this Thursday in the Museum of Art.

This spring two authors, William Cronon and Brown, will partner with the Department of English in an effort to connect students with writers. Brown will be making an appearance on campus this Thursday.

“Most universities that have a creative writing program have a visiting writer series,” said Debbie Lee, an English professor and one of the event coordinators. “It’s very common.”

Lee said WSU’s Visiting Writers Series began 16 years ago and has become an event where the Department of English collaborates with another department on campus to reach out to and give students an interdisciplinary experience.

The English Department worked with the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies for Thursday’s event.

In an effort to make connections with other departments around campus, the series will address creative writing techniques through visual arts. The connections, according to Rebecca Brown, involve the similarities between two concepts, such as self-expression and discovery.

Brown, originally from Seattle, has written novels, essays, poems and other works, often collaborating with various artists. She is known for her work with the topic of lesbianism, which won her the Lambda Literary Award for fiction and the Publishing Triangle Award from the Association of Lesbians and Gay Men in Publishing.

“I’ve done a couple books collaborating with artists,” said Brown. “I’m really interested in the relationship between writing and visual arts.”

These connections will be taught to students during the talk on Thursday and at a one week long workshop taught by Brown. During the talk, Brown will read passages from her original works and participate in a Q-and-A with the students.

Brown said aspiring writers should read and write a variety of works. She also suggested making friends that will help improve one’s writing.

“We use the Visiting Writers Series to energize our students and give them the opportunity to connect with writers,” said Linda Russo, an English professor and coordinator of Thursday’s talk.

The setting of the show matches the theme of connecting the written art with the visual, as the talk will take place in the Museum of Art gallery. While at the reading, participants will be surrounded by artwork from the exhibit “CREATE: Art by Artists Outside the Mainstream.”

These pieces were made by unestablished artists and are part of a travelling exhibition with a final stop in Pullman. The artists are all disabled mentally or physically disabled in some way,  yet still very capable of expressing themselves.

“They’re not worried about getting their name out there or selling their art. It’s just their expression of themself,” said Blake Nakatsu, a senior fine arts major who works at the gallery.

According to Russo, having a reading in the gallery allows students to be with the art and take it in. Oftentimes, she said, one will only focus on the work, but now doors can be opened so they can look at other things to invite into writing.

“Expect to be inspired and get practical advice on writing and publishing,” said Lee. “We bring in people who will connect with students.”

Students wanting to take future workshop classes should visit the Department of English’s website for updates. Rebecca Brown’s reading will begin at 5 p.m.