Launch Party Fetes Anthology of 'Helicon West' Readers and USU Faculty
Star Coulbrooke, director of the USU Writing Center and Helicon West's coordinator, is among the poets and writers featured in "The Helicon West Anthology: A Ten-Year Celebration of Featured Readers." The work of several other USU creative writing faculty members, as well as local writers, is included.
“The Helicon West Anthology: A Ten-Year Celebration of Featured Readers” will be welcomed by a launch party Thursday, Sept 8. The event is sponsored in part by Utah State University’s English Department and the Writing Center. The Logan City Library and Utah Humanities are also sponsors.
The launch party is open to everyone and begins at 7 p.m. in the upstairs room of The Bluebird Restaurant, 19 N. Main, Logan. There will be a short set of readings, a discussion on the value of collaborative literary projects, refreshments and a book-signing.
Star Coulbrooke, USU Writing Center director and Helicon West coordinator, said the collection represents a decade of featured writers at Helicon West’s monthly open-mic series. The monthly readings welcome writers of all stripes to read their original work in an environment with friendly faces, no censorship and free coffee.
The USU creative writing instructors play a significant role in the anthology, said Coulbrooke, because they are “prolific writers who nurture student writing as they publish their own work.”
USU contributors are Shanan Ballam, Russ Beck, Brock Dethier, Ben Gunsberg, Jennifer Sinor, Michael Sowder and Charles Waugh.
The faculty members participate in Helicon West themselves to “encourage their students to become fully invested in the writing community,” she said, and to illustrate “that writing is not an entirely solitary endeavor but a collaborative learning experience.”
Along with Coulbrooke, editors are long-time Helicon West readers Tim Keller and Chadd VanZanten, both Cache Valley residents. Coulbrooke said that in addition to “published and unpublished authors of regional and local fame,” the contributor list includes nationally renowned authors such as former Utah poet laureate Katharine Coles and essayist Dinty W. Moore.
More information about the book can be found online.
Related links:
USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Writer and contact: Janelle Hyatt, 435-797-0289, Janelle.hyatt@usu.edu
SHARE
TRANSLATE
Comments and questions regarding this article may be directed to the contact person listed on this page.
