By RILEY SPELLMAN
On March 26th, Viebranz visiting Professor of Creative Writing, Mark Slouka, read at SLU, from his fiction and nonfiction. His work is insightful and personal, and his prose is stunning and fluid. Slouka’s literature and responses last Thursday suggest that he is a family man, and also intrigued by moments of confusion that rattle his life. When he faces a situation that he cannot understand, he attempts to analyze his feelings and thoughts on the issue through his writing. This drive has led him to completing two books and numerous nonfiction and fiction pieces. Thursdays reading allowed for those in attendance to reflect on Slouka’s history, his family, and this thoughts in a way few writers influence the intellect and imagination of their readers and, in Thursday’s case, listeners. We have been honored here at St. Lawrence to have such an excellent writer in our midst, teaching us students and enhancing our small society.
This writer’s series was the last of the semester. Professor Pedro Ponce did an excellent job coordinating this year’s series, and he will be missed next semester when he leaves us to focus on his writing; Professor Ponce has been awarded a Creative Fellowship in Prose courtesy of the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts), which awards (only) 40 writers across the country $25,000 each, to sustain them as they write for a year. Writer’s Series Professor Mark Slouka is an NEA Fellowship recipient, as well.
If you missed the reading, you missed a great end to a great year of writers and readings, but if you’re not a senior (good luck, seniors!), you will have next year. See you in the fall!
