Both new and accomplished writers showed off their work last week at the Final Thursday reading series at the Hearst Center for the Arts. The event featured a reading by Brooke Wonders, author and new assistant professor of languages and literatures at the University of Northern Iowa.
The Series is a monthly event put on by the Hearst Center and College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences. The last Thursday of each month is a time for writers to read their original work, followed by a featured writer, said Jim O’Loughlin, associate professor of languages and literature.
The night began with an open mic where seven local writers, students and community members read some of their work. At this month’s Final Thursday reading series there were original poems, short stories and creative nonfictions among the works.
O’Loughlin said that this event is a great opportunity for other writers to find out about both published and up and coming writers.
The February event featured Wonders, whose works has appeared in “Daily Science Fiction” and magazines such as “Brevity” and “Clarkesworld.”
“I have heard her speak at another UNI English event, so I knew I didn’t want to miss this because her work is riveting,” said Hannah Carr-Murphy, senior English and music double major.
Wonders presented two original pieces Thursday night.
“Self-Erasure,” a creative nonfiction piece forthcoming in DIAGRAM magazine, featured many visual elements. Each image was a portion of a typed letter, only displaying specific phrases and words.
According to Wonders’ blog, this erasure piece was written about the suicide of her boyfriend in 2005.
“The fact, the fact that she can say, ‘this is nonfiction, this is real’, it makes her work so scary and like very just heart-rending a little bit,” Carr-Murphy said. “But it’s so important, like it’s so important to find a way to make sense of things like suicide, and I think that art and literature and poetry are all ways that you can try to make your life make sense after stuff like that.”
The other reading presented by Wonders was an original short story entitled, “Everything Must Go.” This also featured a visual element, that of a shadowed outline of a house.
Wonders said beforehand that she had never read this piece aloud and she planned to incorporate audience participation. Before her presentation, Wonders had handed out cards then later instructed the specific audience members to read them aloud when directed.
Final Thursday reading series will wrap up their 14th season in April. Featured authors will include Jeremy Schraffenberger, UNI associate professor of languages and literatures, and Ted Morrissey, adjunct lecturer at University of Illinois at Springfield.
