The foundation for the Writers Institute began in 1964; today, it is both a bustling hub and quiet place for 创意写作 majors to pen their works.
Two years before the first 创意写作 course was approved for the curriculum, seven student editors and three 教师 advisors published the university’s first student literary magazine, 焦点. Described in the course catalog as “a means of communication for the best creative expressions of literary and artistic nature,杂志在掀起新浪潮和勉强维持下去之间摇摆不定. 当 加里·芬克 1982年成为焦点的顾问，它的发展轨迹被重新设定. 他也是如此.
当时的英语讲师, Fincke had just completed his first year of teaching the lone 创意写作 course at Susquehanna, 到1986年, he was leading four 创意写作 研讨会 and welcoming six or more visiting authors to campus each year. His entrepreneurial vision and forward thinking for what should come next is why Fincke’s name has become synonymous with all things writing at 浩博体育app.
Fincke’s proposal to establish a writing community was endorsed by then Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences 唐Housley1993年，这个“可能”的梦想实现了.
“The university and especially 唐Housley supported the creation of the Writers Institute and me as director,芬克回忆道. “My ‘job’ was to find ways to call attention to Susquehanna by creating opportunities in 创意写作.”
其余的，正如他们所说，是历史. 芬克正在建立一个超出他想象的项目.
总统卓越基金和1994年Charles B. 德根斯坦基金会推动了快速增长. By 1996, 创意写作专业通过审核, 芬克说, 它有九个“热心的志愿者”.前两节课结束后不久(1999年), 2000年)毕业, the number of 教师 expanded to three and the number of 创意写作 majors surged.
The ushering in of these new writers was marked by new student 文学杂志 dedicated to the three genres that comprise the 创意写作 program: Essay, for creative nonfiction; and RiverCraft, 小说和诗歌. 1993年，《浩博体育app》更名为《浩博体育app》, 2003年，它成为了全国性的大学生杂志.
它起源于英语系 & 创意写作, formerly located in the English Cottage on University Avenue and then the lower level of Hassinger Hall, 2010年，作家协会搬到了大学大道上自己的大楼. 它具有持久性, 不管它的位置如何, because the Writers Institute supports and funds the 创意写作 endeavors at the university — 文学杂志, 廉价的小册子出版物, 研讨会, 高级阅读系列, 获奖和授奖期刊, 为高中生举办的暑期工作坊, 以及西维访问作家系列.
在物理空间方面, the Writers Institute is to a 创意写作 major what a laboratory is to a science major, 从工作室到艺术专业, 从广播电台到广播专业. “作家协会是我们社区的核心，”他说 卡拉凯尔西，英语教授 & 创意写作. “The space naturally blends the work 创意写作 majors do in the classroom with the community that the Writers Institute fosters. It represents the function of the Writers Institute to hold space for creative interaction and growth.”
It is a place that is as much a quiet retreat for a student to be introspective and reflective as it is a boisterous hub for 研讨会 and literary club members to brainstorm and collaborate. It houses inspiration — whether through the critique of peers and 教师 or within the covers of the books and publications that line the bookshelves.
“我来这里是为了我们搬进大学大道上的大楼，”他回忆道 格伦Retief他是英语副教授 & 创意写作. “That created a magical space on campus where writing and creativity were celebrated — where students continue to sit all morning or all afternoon, reading quietly or writing in front of books and chapbooks published by alumni who came before them, 教师, 游客，甚至他们的同龄人.”
这是有抱负的作家在参观浩博体育app校园时必看的一站, 作家协会本身就是一个招聘工具. “I first visited the Writers Institute the summer before my senior year of high school during the Summer Writers Workshop,” 娜拉·华盛顿24岁, a 创意写作 major with a minor in women and gender studies from Temple Hills, Maryland. “我爱上了这座建筑, 人们和教授, 感谢每一个方面都激励着我变得更好, 更加努力工作，变得更伟大.”
Washington will pursue a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from Texas State University. “作家协会是一些最伟大、最勇敢的声音的发源地, 我很自豪，现在我自己也加入了,她补充道.
在过去的三十年里, hundreds of young writers have been inspired by the Writers Institute to foster creative lives.
“Our writing majors who applied to graduate programs had a nearly 100% acceptance rate, 许多人获得了继续学业的资金,芬克自夸道. “Our alumni began to publish or teach, and several became lawyers, librarians, agents and editors.”
毕业生的成功案例包括 德文·泰勒04, who is a senior editor at The New York Times and part of the Gimlet Media team that has been honored with a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award for the podcast Stolen: Surviving St. 迈克尔的; 尼克·马泰尔，16岁她与西蒙达成了出版三本书的协议 & 舒斯特尔的史诗奇幻系列 雇佣兵国王的遗产; and 凯瑟琳·皮尔斯，00年，23年他被任命为密西西比州的桂冠诗人. 皮尔斯, now a professor of English and co-director of the 创意写作 program at Mississippi State University, was among Fincke’s first cohort of graduates who majored all four years in 创意写作.
The connections that writers form at Susquehanna support them in their careers and personal lives. “作家协会是建立在能量、联系、承诺和远见的基础上的，” 凯瑟琳·佐巴尔·登特他是英语副教授 & 创意写作和作家协会主任说. “We train new generations by making space for them to connect to each other as well as to the wider world of 创意写作 and literature.”
萨拉·格泽姆斯基，13岁, business coordinator of the University of Arizona Poetry Center and executive director of Neomi Press, 说, “The instruction I received at the Writers Institute exposed me and my peers to a large literary world of which we are still a part. 当我进入研究生院和工作时, 我意识到我在萨斯奎哈纳中学到了很多东西, 不仅仅是写作技巧, but also about the publishing world and how to be a contributing member of the community.”
Retief, 谁在2015年成为芬克的第一个继任者，成为作家协会的主任, 增加了, “一直, I have watched the 创意写作 program help students find their voices on the page and hone the skills they need to be not just great writers but effective communicators as well — attuned to their genre, 他们的观众和技艺.”
马修·尼尔他是英语助理教授 & 创意写作, attributes the success of the institute to its creative programming and the community it fosters.“What makes the Writers Institute unique is the vibrancy of the writing community at Susquehanna,他说, 有这么多的公开阅读, 文学杂志, 访问作家和其他参与的机会. 它的功能更像是一个研究生项目. 大学生创意写作项目很少有这么大的学生, 活跃的写作社区. 这是这里生活的中心.”
Fincke于2017年退休，担任Emeritus Charles B. 德根斯坦英语与创意写作教授. 这位屡获殊荣的诗人和作家继续写作和出版. 回顾他在浩博体育app37年的职业生涯, 他说, “我每天来上班都非常开心. 我有一份梦想中的工作, recruiting and teaching talented students and having excellent writers as colleagues.”
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