Franklin & Marshall College’s creatives will gather to honor and educate for a three-day literary celebration this week: the Writers House’s 22nd Annual Emerging Writers Festival (EWF).
Beginning with a reading on Wednesday night, the Writers House will feature five successful writers for eight separate events, including readings from their books and hour-long craft workshops, mini-classes for aspiring student writers (and Lancaster community members) to learn from professionals immersed in the craft. The festival will conclude with a barbeque open to the F&M and Lancaster community, a final hoorah to honor the visiting writers (and the literary tradition) at the College.
“EWF, to me at least, is such an exciting event for the English Department and for F&M as a whole,” messaged Gyana Guity, ‘25, member of the EWF committee, when asked what EWF means to her. “A cohort of English majors get to work together with faculty to share the mutual love for writing with the rest of the school and for anyone else both inside and outside of Lancaster to enjoy… and I’m just so excited to see this year’s festival come to life and to continue this tradition!”
The festival will showcase five successful authors with published books in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and comics. The EWF committee, in charge of planning the three-day writing extravaganza, is made up of several English FPS members and ten senior students who have committed time every week for the past few months to make this festival worth attending.
This year’s featured writers include:
- Sarah Perry is the author of After the Eclipse, a memoiristic investigation of self and truth regarding her mother’s murder when she was a child.
- Ebony Flowers is a graphic novelist and author of Hot Comb, a collection of comic vignettes about (but not limited to) growing up with Black hair in a racialized and classist society.
- Michael Torres is a poet and author of An Incomplete List of Names, a collection exploring feelings about identity, boyhood, family, and incarceration (Torres teaches writing to incarcerated individuals).
- Ada Zhang is the author of The Sorrow of Others, a fictional collection that unites Chinese and American cultures through the story of what it means to feel like an outsider.
- Maggie Millner is the author of Couplets, a book of poetry about love, queerness, polyamory, and identity transformation written primarily in the couplet form.
“I can’t wait to meet Franklin & Marshall’s students and to hear what these young writers are working on and planning for their futures,” emailed Perry to TCR staff. “I’m also really looking forward to meeting Ebony, Maggie, Michael, and Ada and getting to know their work better. I love hearing how fellow writers think about their craft—how they take an idea from dream to page, and all the twists and turns they encounter along the way.”
“I am most looking forward to meeting F&M students!” added Flowers.
Jayden LaCoe, senior and another EWF committee member, expressed similar feelings from the other end of the table.
“I’m most excited to interact with all of these amazing, talented writers!” confirmed LaCoe in a message to TCR staff.
While the festival’s events will be held on F&M’s campus, EWF events will also be available virtually for those who cannot attend in person. Zoom links can be found here, as well as the festival’s schedule, bios for the featured authors, and information about EWF committee members.
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, author Ebony Flowers will not be able to attend EWF. Look out for schedule updates.
Sarah Nicell and Olivia Schmid are Senior Senior Staff Writers. Their emails are snicell@fandm.edu and oschmid@fandm.edu.