Final Creative Writing Institute Event

On Wednesday, July 17, 2019, AUP’s Summer Creative Writing Institute held the final event in its Guest Speaker and Reading Series, hosting the institute’s professors, Stacey D’Erasmo and Robert Minhinnick, to share their own work with students and answer questions about their personal creative processes. The occasion was particularly notable due to the presence of Professor Jeffrey Greene, the founder of AUP’s creative writing major and the associated summer institute.

Stacey D’Erasmo is the author of several novels and one nonfiction book, as well as being a prolific essayist and the winner of numerous literary awards. D’Erasmo was introduced by Serena, a student taking her summer classes: “She’s such an eloquent speaker,” Serena said. “Everything that comes out of her mouth is like it’s already been published.” 

D’Erasmo read from her latest novel-in-progress. The story explored themes of complicity and regret, intertwining the protagonist’s inner monologue with an evocative description of a beached whale. “I’ve been really interested in writing about complicity,” she explained, in response to a student’s question. She argued that, at the present time, complicity was an increasingly important topic – particularly in the fallout of the global #MeToo allegations. She found those surrounding the perpetrators of crimes an interesting source of creative inspiration: “It’s all the people who have half a conscience that fascinate me,” she explained.

Students asked about what research had been necessary to write about a beached whale. D’Erasmo read widely around the topic, though admitted that she was “still looking for a whale stranding.” Another question covered the writing process: how much does D’Erasmo consider word choice when polishing a draft? “It’s like you’re an actor playing all of your characters,” she said, explaining how, particularly as her characters are not based on her own experience, there is a need to understand how her protagonists’ minds work. “You want it to feel organic.”

Robert Minhinnick is an essayist and poet, born in Wales, whose debut novel was awarded the 2008 Ondaatje Prize. As well as being a writer, he helped cofound Friends of the Earth Cymru and has many years’ experience as an environmental campaigner. He was quick to clarify that he was “not a professor,” though Jill, a student in his classes who introduced him to the room, spoke warmly of his teaching ability. “The classroom environment is very open,” she explained. “We can ask to be roasted and be given honest feedback.”

Minhinnick said it had been particularly rewarding for him to tutor young American writers: “It’s only when you do that that you realize we are separated by common language,” he explained. Following his first reading of a short story themed around the Tower of Babel, he discussed the differences between British and American English using a series of culturally specific haiku. He argued that cultural reference was an important tool for any writer. “You can feel it diminishing right in front of your ears, your eyes, as you get older,” he lamented. “That will happen to you, too.” He finished his readings by calling on one of his students to perform a spoken-word duet with him of a recent poem, written while staying in the apartment of an AUP professor. “It’s a libretto,” he explained. “I thought, people would be bored with my voice; let’s have another timbre.”

Both professors remarked what a pleasure it had been to teach in the summer institute. The event ended with a reception during which students had the opportunity to ask further questions. The final event of the three-day summer school – on Friday, July 19 – saw students reading out their own work, produced during the three-week program, for peer review.