January 23, 2012 - Abigail Mills
The 2012 Winter with the Writers Festival is officially underway, and how do the interns from Rollins feel? Powerful! We recognize this incredible opportunity to own our education by taking responsibility to learn from this experience and improve our craft. The possibilities are vast due to the wealth of learning experiences available from each other and from the guest writers. Committees have been formed, and everyone is making preparations with fervor - posters proclaim the event across Winter Park, news articles and interviews relating to the authors have been uploaded to the Winter with the Writers’ Facebook page, and groups are forming for interns to discuss the techniques and style of each writer. “Working as the co-administrator of the Winter with the Writers Facebook page allowed me to take off on my own and try out some things that are normally out of my comfort zone. Everyone I’ve worked with so far has been very nice and accommodating. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the semester goes!” exclaims Kristen Arnett.
We eagerly anticipate the arrival of our first guest, Carl Hiaasen, a Floridian journalist and novelist who writes clever, outrageous satire on life in Florida. Join us for a master class with Hiaasen on February 2nd at 4 p.m. in the Bush auditorium. Following, Hiaasen will read selections from his bestselling novels at 7:30 p.m. Intern Adrian Alexander hasn’t missed a WWW reading since becoming a student at Rollins. “Finally getting the chance to work with the writers personally is very exciting. I can’t wait to see what insights they bring to our writing. I am also excited to see the festival from this end of the stage,” says Alexander.
Hiaasen visit marked with preparation, excitement
By David Matteson
As the arrival of the first guest author quickly approaches, the interns’ feelings of anticipation and excitement continue to grow.
“Anyone who is an English major, or who just loves to read, would know that meeting an author of one of your favorite books is an awesome opportunity,” intern Lisa Murray said.
We began preparing for the arrival of this author through the reading of his novels Tourist Season, Hoot and Star Island. Interestingly, Hiaasen’s works are hallmarked by the fact that they are set in South Florida. Despite being native to Florida, intern Kristen Arnett feels that the settings of Hiaasen’s books do not necessarily seem familiar.
“Reading about Miami still feels like a foreign concept sometimes,” Arnett said. “Unlike some of the other interns, I felt as if Hiaasen’s Florida was not necessarily my Florida.”
While the setting is similar in each of the narratives, the subject matter discussed varies in each book. Tourist Season chronicles an elite gang of environmentally concerned terrorists through their often-hilarious misadventures. Hoot, Hiaasen’s popular young adult novel, shares an environmental theme, while Hiaasen’s most recent publication, Star Island, analyzes the culture of celebrities and paparazzi in South Beach. Each work appeals to readers of a wide range of interests. For example, Arnett enjoyed Hoot because of its young adult affiliation.
“I think Hiaasen does a great job of bridging the gap between juvenile and adult fiction,” Arnett said. “All of his books carry the same theme: environmentalism and politics, but the young adult book carried it off the best because that genre is founded in hope and possibility.”
We have continued our preparation for Hiaasen’s impending visit by researching the author in detail. Several of us have focused our attention on Hiaasen’s journalistic career, as he is a featured columnist in the Miami Herald. Others have looked at Hiaasen’s response to interviews regarding his novels, and critical reviews of these works. The overall purpose of this extensive research is to feel prepared to discuss writing with an important icon in American and Floridian fiction.
Quote about preparation and research
Hiaasen’s reading is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Bush Auditorium. Rollins students and faculty as well as members of the community are encouraged to attend this exciting event.
February 6, 2012: Hiaasen’s reading leaves interns excited
By David Matteson
Filling three auditoriums on Thursday evening, the Winter with the Writers 2012 season started with a bang as Carl Hiaasen read from his first novel Tourist Season.
“I thought the turn out for the reading was fantastic. I hope every event is like that,” intern Abigail Mills said. “I think the turn out speaks to the popularity of Hiaasen as well as what his readers think of him. He knows his audience, he knows how to relate to them and they appreciate him. It was very evident that his words have impacted many.”
The event started with the Master Class, where Hiaasen offered advice and suggestions for writing to the interns and a small audience. Answering questions ranging from the development of characters such as Skink, a reoccurring role, to how his golf game had improved, Hiaasen left the interns excited.
“After hearing Hiaasen speak at the master class I realized just how much each writer’s process varies. His visit sparked my desire to fully dedicate myself to what I write. Instead of sporadically creating art, work with it every day,” intern Amanda Hampton said.
The reading was certainly the climax of the evening’s events. Hiaasen read the first chapter from his first solo novel, Tourist Season. Following the reading he expanded on where he comes up with several of the characters and plotlines that occur in his works. He cited his main source of inspiration as being from Florida headlines, some of which he read to the audience.
“I think his writing style meshed perfectly with his personality – he was very dry and funny, and he focused a lot of attention to aspects of journalism, and how that played into his fiction writing,” intern Kristen Arnett said.
Overall, Thursday’s reading and Master class was a fantastic start to the Winter With the Writer’s season. All of the interns are certainly excited for our next event, Ilya Kaminsky and Mihaela Moscaliuc’s reading on Thursday, Feb. 9.
February 6, 2012: Two Poets Are Better Than One: WWW Week Two
Amanda Hampton
This week, the festival continues its salute to the literary arts with two inspiring poets: Ilya Kaminsky and Mihaela Moscaliuc.
Some of the interns submitted poetry of their own to Kaminsky in preparation for his master class. The excitement level surges as the days draw nearer, and interns are anxious to see what they will learn from both classes. Intern Annie Goldman, who submitted a poem, said, “I'm most looking forward to the possibility of Kaminsky saying something constructive about my work so that I can get better, and to hear him read his own work.”
It was great to see fellow interns working to understand the poets and their work. While much of that effort included reading their poetry collections (including Moscaliuc’s Father Dirt and Kaminsky’s Dancing in Odessa), interns will aid in further understanding by discussing the writers through presentations during class meetings. Though this week’s writers have relatively short careers, intern Don Glenn noted the wealth of subject matter available. “Everyone has something they feel comfortable with and there will not be a shortage of material,” he said.
After the success of last week’s events, we are all anticipating the experience to come. “I thought Carl Hiaasen shared some great insight about writing and I can't wait to hear what Ilya and Mihaela will have to say about poetry and translation,” Intern Mandy McRae shared.
On Thursday, Moscaliuc will give a 2 p.m. master class on the topic of translation and Kaminsky will follow with a 4 p.m. master class where he will discuss poetry as well as intern-submitted work. The literary party will not stop there, though, because at 7:30 p.m. both poets will entertain an audience with a reading, on-stage interview and signing. All free and open to the public, of course.
The interns are pumped and we hope everyone else is, too! It is certainly an event not to be missed.
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