Write Club welcomes imagination with open arms

Jacob Hartman

Short stories, poetry, and prose all have their place at NSU’s Write Club. The club is an

open platform for amateur writers who are encouraged to share their works and unchain their

imagination in the pursuit of liberating creativity. Their aim is to support and promote creative

writing within the university and the broader community by giving a platform to those who seek

to let their voice be heard.

“The purpose is just to bring people access and practice to creative writing and bringing

that back into the community,” said Allison Childress, Write Club president.

By nature, writing is a solitary craft that may attract those too shy to ever present their

pieces to an audience. Nonetheless, Write Club hopes creating an environment where writers feel

comfortable, greater heights can be achieved within the medium of the written word.

“Writing is a way to share stories and empower people,” said Childress.

During meetings the club allows members to present anything they have written for

communal feedback and critique. This dialogue is valued by the already skilled writers who are

then spurred to hone their words into a sharper edge. Poems are created with exercises where

words are drawn at random and other activities help the members to excite their passions and

conjure new ideas.

“I feel like everyone who comes can really bring some firepower,” said professor

Christopher Murphy, Write Club faculty adviser.

This firepower that the club cultivates is bound up and presented neatly in the annual

publication of NSU’s literary journal The Talon. The journal allows students to submit creative
writing pieces of any genre for publication, which can help sculpt a place for young writers in the

literary world.

“We take student submissions in the fall and then in the spring we publish the ones that

get selected into The Talon,” said Childress.

For many of the writers featured in The Talon, it is their first chance for much desired

publication.

“In creative writing, literary journals are like the primary kind of mode of getting your

work out there,” said Murphy.

Writers are often challenged not only with creating new art but even with the simple act

of acquiring an audience. The club hopes to soon expand their mission to include the

underrepresented voices of incarcerated women in Oklahoma.

“We’ve for a long time wanted to do outreach with women’s prisons,” said Murphy. “It

gave the women there kind of a chance to express themselves and get their stories out.”

Murphy said he felt inspired by colleagues at the University of Arkansas who had been

involved in similar programs with women’s prisons.

Outreach programs like this are also extremely important to Childress who works with

the Center for Women’s Studies and initiated the idea for the Write Club to create a comparable

program.

“So by doing that, it’s getting people who are literally locked somewhere, kept away, and

getting their stories out to the public,” said Childress.

The Write Club hopes by sharing their platform they can bring more voices into the

conversation. Another of the projects the club feels passionate about is outreach to K-12 schools
in the area. The club has been to several schools in the region to spend anywhere from one

classroom period to an entire day with students.

“We teach some basic poetic concepts,” said Murphy. “We get the kids writing and

sharing their writing and enjoying poetry.”

Literature and poetry is often neglected in Oklahoma public schools where funds are

short and budgets tight. However, igniting the passions of young writers is necessary in creating

a more rational and educated populace.

As Socrates said, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

Perhaps the students that were excited by what the Write Club’s offered them will go on

to win Pulitzers and Nobel prizes. Only time can tell.

For now, the club has set its sights on more immediate events. The Department of

Languages and Literature has planned their annual Visions conference for April 12. The

competition will be an opportunity to hear selected works read by the writers themselves. The

winner of the contest will be awarded a signed copy of Kendra Fortmeyer’s novel Hole in the

Middle. Write Club members also plan to attend the annual Scissortail Creative Writing Festival

which is held at East Central University April 4-6. The festival allows attendees a chance to

compete or hear from speakers in the literary world.

Write Club’s own upcoming event, an open mic night, is slated for 5:30 p.m., March 27

at the NSU Jazz Lab.

Performers are welcomed to present their various works on themes of race, gender, and

women’s history month during the first half of the night. The second half of the event is cleared

for works of any subject or genre. Write Club hopes to allow artists a chance to share their pieces

in an inviting space.
 “Come at the start of it and get signed up,” said Murphy. “Then we just go through

everybody and you get up and perform your work.”

Write Club has ambitious desires and high hopes for their future work at NSU and in the

surrounding communities. Any students interested in taking part in their endeavors or

contributing to the creative atmosphere of the club is welcomed to attend.

Meetings take place 5 p.m. every Wednesday in Seminary Hall 227.

The next issue of The Talon will be published soon this semester with copies selling for

$10.

Students interested in purchasing a copy can email professor Christopher Murphy at

murphy07@nsuok.edu.