Helicon West: Because students are creative, too
For anyone who ever wrote anything they thought smacked of genius, Helicon West might just be the answer.
Helicon West, named for Mount Helicon in Greece, which in Greek mythology was inhabited by muses, provides an opportunity for students and community members to share their work in a welcoming literary circle, said Star Coulbrooke, the director of the writing center in the Ray B. West building.
Named by professor Michael Sowder after first being called Writers Read Weekly in 2004, Helicon West is an open microphone event where all writers, from bloggers to poets, fiction to non-fiction, Coulbrooke said, can get together and share their writings to give them “voice.” Writing is a private and solitary activity at its core, but giving a voice to one’s work can strike that chord in others, perhaps inspiring them to write themselves, and Helicon West is the environment where people can share their most creative and cherished thoughts, Coulbrooke said.
People read anything from poetry to short plays, journal entries, essays or excerpts from essays or flash essays, to fiction and non-fiction. The only constraint to make sure everyone that wants to have a chance to read is able to, Coulbrooke said, is that all readings need to be seven minutes or shorter.
Helicon West is open to all community members throughout Cache Valley, as well as people from throughout the state of Utah, she said. Everyone is encouraged to come and read or simply enjoy the experience of listening, Coulbrooke said.
Coulbrooke said everyone who participates at Helicon West has the potential to have their works published in the broadside poster which is distributed by the Writing Center. The broadsides consist of actual writings that are performed at Helicon West and are displayed on the first floor in the Ray B. West building.
Helicon West takes place every other Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the True Aggie Café on 117 N. Main. The next event is Nov. 13 and will be featuring guest speaker Professor Jennifer Sinor in the USU department of English. Sinor is the author of “The Extraordinary Work of Ordinary Writing,” a book that centers around the diary of her great–great– great aunt, a homesteader in the Dakotas in the later 19th century. She is also the co-editor of “Placing the Academy: Essays on Landscape, Work, and Identity.” Her essays have been published in many literary journals including Fourth Genre, The American Scholar, Ecotone, Brevity and Bellingham Review. Her work has also appeared in such publications as The Chronicle of Higher Ed and The Wasatch Journal.
The last Helicon West for the fall season will take place Dec. 11 and will feature Emily Sorensen hosting the winners 2008 USU Creative Writing Contest.
–heather.c.griffiths@aggimail.usu.edu