ACC- Creative Writing Department

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By Chris Smith

John Herndon, poet, essayist, reporter and ACC professor, knows what a lonely endeavor writing can often be. Instead of suffering the slings and arrows of the literary life alone Herndon encourages writers, creative writing students and anyone interested to attend the student literary gatherings held once a month at Austin Java Café at 12th and Lamar. “[The student literary gatherings] give students a chance to form relationships outside the classroom, relationships amongst themselves, informal relationships with their professors and also a chance to connect with writers out there working in the community,” says Herndon.

The gatherings offer a space for creative writing students to socialize and provide writers with an eager and supportive audience. “We’ll pack the place on a Monday night, even when there is a football game on,” quips Herndon who began organizing the student gatherings at Austin Java in the fall of 2004. They have been a huge success, with 60 to 75 people packed into the back patio of the café some nights, says Herndon. The readings are held once a month and begin about 7 pm. There is usually a featured reader who reads for about 15 to 20 minutes and then anyone who feels up to the challenge can take the stage and read for three to five minutes. Featured readers in the past have included ACC faculty members, students and former students, and poets and writers from around Texas.

The upcoming gatherings coincide with the fall and spring semesters and the dates are:

September 14
October 12
November 16
December 7
February 8
March 8
April 9
May 10

Writers are encouraged to read everything from poems, excerpts from fiction or non–fiction stories, or even read or perform a section of a play or a screenplay. The readings are open to any form of literary writing, including songwriting. “Every once in a while someone will bring a guitar and will want to play a song and we are usually open to that,” says Herndon. Herndon can remember his first reading as a student at UT in the ‘70s and he knows how intimidating it can be, but he has some advice for first–time readers. Practice and time yourself before reading in public. When you read in public, read slowly. Print out what you will read in large bold font so it is easy to read. Project your voice to the back of the room so that everyone can hear. Perhaps the most important piece of advice to remember is that, “the people in the audience want you to succeed, they’re eager for you to succeed and they are going to be getting up there too, so they are sympathetic and nervous, too,” says Herndon. “It’s impossible to fail,” says Herndon. “You can go up there and do the worst reading we’ve ever heard and people are still going to applaud. And then you get to try again.”

Chris Smith is a Student of Creative Writing at Austin Community College

By Chelsea Biondolillo

The first weekend in April saw the Rio Grande campus erupt into a vibrant and diverse celebration of the Arts and Humanities. Carnival ah! ran from April 2nd – 4th and featured a film tent, four stages, three designated classrooms and more than 60 separate exhibits and events. Organizers conservatively estimated that the carnival included over 300 participants and 1,000 visitors across the three days of activities.

The carnival featured films, art exhibits, literary readings, as well as theatre, dance, and musical performances. Also on hand were several community arts providers at featured booths and performances such as Badgerdog Literary Publishing, Visions International literary journal, Armstrong Community Music School, Steamroller Prints, and The Mexican American and Asian American Cultural Centers, to name a few.

Event project manager and assistant professor in ACC’s drama department, Arthur Adair, felt that one of the major successes of the carnival was in bringing faculty, students, and the community together. Student solo performances were “great feats of excellence and achievement” while faculty had opportunities to work together with the greater arts community in a new environment, “building important personal relationships” across disciplines and organizations.

Gail Folkins, interim chair of the creative writing department, praised the Carnival ah! project for creating a platform for ACC to share “what the arts and humanities has to offer to a broad audience, from students, faculty, and staff to members of the community.” The Creative Writing Department played an active role in the carnival, advising Raul Cantu on the ESOL Journal, sponsoring Jill Patterson’s workshop on student-run literary magazines, and organizing a faculty and staff reading on Friday. Gail was also impressed with the willingness of staff to jump in and make things happen, whether finding doughnuts and special cakes for the crowds or giving visiting writers a ride to the airport.

Some standout day-time events included the ACC Films festival, which was both technically successful and popular with the crowds; the student art sale; and The Rio Review: Tenth Anniversary celebration. In the evenings, audiences gathered to hear readings by former ACC professor Maxine Beach and disability advocate Stephen Kuusisto, and to watch the film The Flea Circus, based on Billy Lee Brammer’s novel The Gay Place. The Creative Writing and Drama Department’s co-production In 2 the West played to sold out crowds on Friday and Saturday.

This year’s Carnival ah! gave students and faculty the opportunity to reach out to the Austin arts community and the greater community of arts appreciators in a big way. While this was the inaugural year for the carnival, the ACC Arts and Humanities Division hopes to make it an annual event.

Chelsea Biondolillo is a Student of Creative Writing at Austin Community College

Scholarship Announcements:

Fall Creative Writing Scholarship ($500 for Spring 2009 tuition and books)
Fall Scholarship Application deadline: November 15^th, 2009

Spring Creative Writing Scholarship ($500 for Fall 2010 tuition and books)
Spring Scholarship Application deadline: April 15^th, 2010

Criteria:

Overall 3.0 GPA
15 hours of completed ACC coursework
Successfully completed English Comp. I (ENGL 1301)
Completed at least one ACC creative writing class

To apply:

Complete the Creative Writing Scholarship application (available online here – fill in the information and print out).
Attach a cover letter – this is your opportunity to expand on your ambitions as a creative writer and describe what you hope to achieve at ACC and beyond.
Include a creative writing sample (one prose piece, five to ten pages of screenplay or play, or three poems) .

Austin Community College
Department of Creative Writing
Rio Grande Campus
1212 Rio Grande
Peach Street 2–I
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: 512.223.3355 Fax: 512.223.3369

Department Chair of Creative Writing
Charlotte Gullick, MA.

Administrative Assistant III
Mary F. Rincon

Department Contact Information