Two Columbia alumni joined around 28 current students, faculty and other alumni at the Efroymson Creative Writing Reading Series event at The Hive on Wednesday, March 12 to share tips for aspiring writers and their published work.
The crowd gathered around the intimate stage in The Hive and listened intently as Lor Clincy, a 2024 graduate from the Creative Writing MFA program, shared excerpts from her debut poetry collection “RESOLVE.” Jeff Hoffman, who received his MFA in 2019, shared sections of his second novel “Like It Never Happened.” The reading was then followed by a Q&A session led by Alexis Pride, the director of graduate programs.
The Efroymson reading series is hosted by the School of Communication and Culture and invites prestigious writers in Chicago to share their work and engage with current students. For the past four years, the series has invited award-winning authors and writers with different styles and disciplines including poetry, fiction and nonfiction work. The series holds multiple events throughout the year and alumni are invited regularly to share their stories after their time at Columbia.
Monét Lewis, a senior creative writing major, attended the event with her class and said she enjoyed being in a space “for readers and writers to come together and just listen and hear other people share their work.” She said that it’s important to know that these opportunities to connect with creatives are available on campus, especially for the large number of writers in the room.
“Writing is an outlet,” Lewis said. “If writing is that outlet then it should be known, it should be talked about and should be shared. I think it should just be something that’s encouraging for future writers or future people that are interested in creative writing.”
As the readers shared their intimate work, some people in the crowd closed their eyes to fully take in the words. Charly Heber, a senior creative writing major, said that the diversity of written work that was shared kept her engaged in the conversation and readings.
“There was poetry, nonfiction, memoir and then fiction in its truest form, like a novel,” she said. “I think having that perspective, like how different both readers were in terms of what they publish, was just really good, especially for a room filled with so many different kinds of writers.”
Clincy’s collection of poetry discussed her experiences of grief in her childhood while Hoffman’s excerpts highlighted the character-building and themes in his story. In the last 30 minutes of the event, the writers used the Q&A to discuss their creative processes, how they develop their voice and how to manage a writing schedule after graduation. Although their writing styles and content were different, both guest speakers were invested in inspiring the next generation of writers.
“I hope people were inspired to write,” Clincy said. “People were inspired to authentic, salient stories because that is the engine of life: storytelling. That’s at the root of everything, every good thing we know is storytelling.”
Hoffman discussed the process of writing long-form pieces and how important it is to just write before worrying about the logistics. This is something that he learned in his time at Columbia that continues to follow him in his writing process.
“First drafts are nothing but a starting place,” Hoffman said. “First drafts, you can’t worry about style and you can’t worry about voice and you can’t worry about structure. You get lucky sometimes but you’re just laying down the two-by-fours that you’re going to build a house out of later.”
The event allowed current students and aspiring writers to see the diversity in style and processes of an author. Clincy graduated last year and said she related to the feeling of uncertainty when it comes to work after college, and wanted students to see what’s available to them.
“They can see all these different possibilities,” she said. “Everybody’s career doesn’t look the same, we all have different trajectories.”
Some students in the crowd were taking notes of the advice given by the guest speakers. Shaymaa Atwa, a junior creative writing major, has attended multiple reading events similar to the Efroymson series and had a page full of notes by the end of the event. She said that it was beneficial to see what’s possible as a creative writing major.
“It’s kind of scary thinking about once we graduate,” she said. “How do you get these projects done when you have a full-time job?… It’s just really important to see that it is possible, that others have done it and getting insight into how they did it.”
In the Q&A portion of the night, Clincy emphasized the importance of making time to work on creative pieces while balancing another full-time job. She said that it’s difficult to do so for every writer, but the passion behind the work should draw the motivation to write.
“Consistency is important,” Clincy said. “Passion can take you so far, discipline is where it’s at. You have to commit to your creative process.”
Heber said that it was helpful to see writers from Columbia and their success in their work, even as they balance life after graduation. She said it was important to hear other writers relate to the difficulty of finding time to write as someone who also struggles to do so.
“When I see them publishing their work, pursuing writing outside of perhaps their typical careers, I think maybe that’s a possibility for me as well even if poetry and writing aren’t necessarily the biggest things in my life,” Heber said.
Near the end of the discussion, both of the guest speakers talked about the importance of writing for themselves. As they develop their voices in their writing, they said the best way to maintain the value of a piece is to use writing as an outlet for their benefit before an audience.
“For poets, you know, our voices are really important and sometimes just having the opportunity is enough,” Clincy said. “But I don’t write for a specific audience: I write for me. First, I write for my inner child, and then I write for the women and other people I think that could really benefit from what I’m saying.”
Students walked away with more insights on the lifestyle of a writer and how to keep up their motivation after graduation. Atwa said that one of the biggest things that stuck with her from their advice is to “take creative risks.” She said that attending the event helped ground her in writing and inspired her to be bold in her work, even if it isn’t for publication.
“I think it can be really scary to write things that you think won’t be accepted, or things that will be perceived in a certain way,” she said. “But the most important thing about a story is putting down your own voice, putting your story out there.”
Copy edited by Matt Brady
Resumen en Español:
Lor Clyncy y Jeff Hoffman, dos alumnos, presentaron a estudiantes y otros miembros de Columbia en La Hive el miércoles, marzo 11.
Clyncy presentó extractos de su colección de poesía, titulada “RESOLVE”. Hoffman compartió partes de su segunda novela “Like It Never Happened”. La presentación es parte de la serie de lecturas Efroymson.
Este evento es organizado por la Escuela de Comunicación y Cultura, el cual invitan a escritores prestigiosos a compartir sus obras y discutir con estudiantes.
Cerca del final de la presentación, los alumnos respondieron a preguntas como la importancia de escribir con sus voces al igual que teniendo balance en la vida después de la graduación.
Esta serie tiene varios eventos durante el año y los alumnos son invitados regularmente a compartir sus obras hechas después de Columbia.
Resumen en Español por Uriel Reyes
Texto editado por Manuel Nocera
