On Dec. 3, screenwriter Jason Gregory will lead a workshop working with students on the structuring of a novel. This workshop is just one of three scheduled for this semester as part of the visiting writer’s program, led by English teacher Melanie Farmer.
Novelist David Jones Poissant and poet Vidhu Aggarwal lead workshops on Nov. 1st and Nov. 4th, respectively. These workshops allow young writers to learn from the expertise of professionals and further their writing careers.
“I really liked the workshop,” sophomore Abbie Thompson said. “I really liked how we learned about poetry. It was really fun and allowed us to work as a group.”
The Visiting Writers Series was originally started in 1999 by English teacher Pete Ives. When Ives left the school in 2003, English teacher Dr. Robert J. Boerth stepped up to take the role. He served for 15 years as the host of the writing workshops.
In 2018 Farmer took over because she is a creative writer herself.
“I applied to take it over because I just really like creative writing, and I write myself,” Farmer said. “It’s also for me to stay connected to the outside world beyond Trinity. These people are writing and publishing, and some of them are local so it gives me a chance to just have a little bit of connection to my professional interests, but not always in terms of me teaching a class.”
During the program’s 22 years, several notable authors have come to Trinity, including well-known authors Jeff VanderMeer, who wrote “Annihilation,” and James Ponti, who wrote the series “Dead City” and the bestselling book “Framed.”
“I think it’s hard to assess fame for writers because people don’t know much about writers,” Farmer said. “So if I ask someone to name two writers, they’re gonna say JK Rowling or Stephen King. We’ve not had anyone of that scale come to our writing program. But you know, Patricia Smith is a major award-winning poet who has been here. Jamie Poissant, who will be here next year has a book out that has won multiple awards, his work is published in a million different languages internationally. Billy Collins, who is a former Poet Laureate of the United States of America has been here.”
The most important part of the visiting writer’s programs is what the students leave with.
“I hope that they learn something new or get excited about that writer’s genre,” Farmer said. “For anybody who comes, whether they already are into writing or not, I hope that they can walk away with some type of an experiment or something that they can do on their own. And in some cases, I hope that it sparks people’s interest in more creative writing stuff like taking the class that we offer here or joining the Literary Society.”
The most beneficial part of the workshops is that students have the opportunity to spend time with the authors and with other students interested in creative writing.
“My favorite part is hanging out with my friends,” Thompson said. “It was also fun when I was learning about poetry, but my favorite part was just being with my friends.”
