Millersville University is hosting a Literary Festival in the McNairy Library Room 100 on November 2nd from 9am to 5pm with a keynote speaker at 7pm. Guest writers will hold sessions on writing fiction, poetry, memoir, creative essays, and journalism throughout the day. Check out the full event schedule here.
The Millersville University Literary Festival is sponsoring a Flash Fiction contest!
Submission Criteria:
- Millersville students only
- 1,000 word limit
- Submit here (click on the “Submit Here” link) by October 15th at 11:59pm
The night before the festival (November 1st), the student fiction prize will be awarded at an open mic event in Saxby’s from 7-9pm. The winner will win a $100 prize and a spot in the George Street Press literary magazine.
Please submit your stories and come out to the open mic on November 1st!
On Thursday, April 19th, 2018 my English class taught by Dr. Jakubiak traveled to New York City to hear a panelist of authors from all over the world speak at a convention called Cry, the Beloved Country. The festival was for Pen America’s World Voices Festival which is centered around bringing together world literature and ideas.
After each had finished, the audience was able to meet the authors and have them sign any works they had written. This was a great time for me and my class. Some of us brought along our book The River Between written by Mr. Ngugi wa Thiang’o that we had read in class and got to not only have him sign our novels but to ask him questions about the book we had discussed so heavily. All of the questions we had about the book he was able to answer. To actually meet an author who had written one of my favorite books we had read all semester was such an amazing experience.
Some of us didn’t have any pieces of literature written by the authors, but that did not stop us from talking to them about their inspirations and experiences. I had four out of the six authors sign my program that I was given so I didn’t go away completely empty handed. Every author I spoke to was so insightful and had such grace to their craft that I could not help but feel inspired when they spoke to me. Discussing literature in a classroom is beneficial but hands down, nothing beats talking to the author that actually wrote it.
I have a confession to make. When I started out as a freshman social work major at Millersville University in Fall 2014, I did not go to about 90% of freshman orientation. Sadly, I snobbishly dismissed it. At that time, I never would have thought that as a senior in 2019, I would actively choose to be present 
It is common for people to build walls between themselves and the things that help us grow or challenge us. Poetry is one of those things. I think many people often believe that it is something innate. Or that is for more contemplative types. Or for monks that live on mountain tops. Or for 1800s’ transcendentalists who live near ponds. Or, as Dr Archibald has argued, for people who have had “a fairy land on their head to gift them.” Through blackout poetry, freshman students discovered that poetry can be created from what already exists rather than being completely manifested. Sure, there were a few students who still felt too discouraged to give a thoughtful attempt. However, almost everyone left appreciating the language that can emerge out of themselves through poetry. It surprised them. Many eyes lit up with the discovery of the profundity that was woven from the fabrics of their own mind and the words of “All American Boys.” They saw how poetry is freeing rather than confining. They saw how poetry can give the sense of a fierce and rebellious act through potentially using a marker to cross out lines in an old, worn library book. They have the words before them. They just had to choose which ones to use. And there is something so exciting and powerful in that. 
