Professional poets visit Writer’s Day
A Writer’s Day retreat will take place at Mt. SAC May 1-3 for students to hone their creative writing skills.
“We have three fantastic guest speakers, all extraordinary professional writers from the Southern California area, who will be on hand to lead workshops, readings, and panel discussions throughout the weekend,” said Writers’ Day organizer John Brantingham.
Mt. SAC students, faculty and award-winning writers will be in attendance. Tony Barnstone, whose manuscript “The Golem of Los Angeles” received the Benjamin Saltman Award for poetry, will be speaking. He will also be joined by Suzanne Lummis, present and founding director of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival. Phyllis Gebauer author of “The Pagan Blessing” in 1979 and “Hot Widow” in 2008 will be at the retreat.
An awards assembly for the fall semester winners of Writer’s Day will take place during the retreat Brantingham said. Students competed in six categories: free verse poetry, formal poetry, fiction, genre fiction, critical essay, and autobiography. The writers’ work was published in the English department’s “Mosaic” magazine.
Workshops and panel discussions on various aspects of fiction and poetry writing will take place daily from Friday to Sunday, and continental breakfasts and light lunches will be served daily. The fee for the three-day retreat is $50 per person or $20 if attending for a single day.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to bring together campus and community members in an exciting creative environment,” said English department chair Gary Enke. “We’ll have people poeting and fictioning all over the place.”
Applications are available at writersday.mtsac.edu. For more information and a sign up sheet contact Professor John Brantingham at 909 594 5611ext. 4860
-Wendy Rubick
