This weekend, the Pen/Faulkner "New Voices in American Fiction" program brought up-and-coming authors Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Kuwana Haulsey and Porter Shreve to read from their latest projects in the Katzen Arts Center.
"There are a lot of 'new voices' these days, and a great number of them are enormously talented and interesting," Shreve said. "I really do believe we're in a golden age of literary fiction."
The three authors also participate in the "Writers in Schools" project, which brings these writers to speak in D.C. public high schools about their work and the writing process. The publisher or the Pen/Faulkner Foundation provides free copies of the authors' books to the classes.
"It is a rare and wonderful opportunity. Great local authors help students see that real people write books and were once teenagers with hopes and ambitions, just like them," Jessica Neely, the executive director of the Pen/Faulkner Foundation, said. "The Writers in Schools program aims to foster a love of reading in students and to build new essential readers for writers."
At the end of the session, the authors sign each student's copy of the book.
"This way, the student gets to take away the book as well as this memory," Neely said.
"For the writer, it's just the biggest honor imaginable," Bynum said. "When I get to meet with a book group or a class of students, I am always deeply grateful and thrilled. It's particularly exciting to talk with high school readers because of their energy and curiosity and boldness."
Shreve agreed. "So much of the work a writer does is solitary and, to a certain extent, self-involved," he said. "The Writers in Schools program is wonderful because it takes writers out into the world and gives us an opportunity to contribute our work and understanding of the writing process with others."
The authors say they most enjoy discussing the writing process with the students.
"These visits can demystify the whole endeavor of writing. They learn that published writers grapple with the same problems that student writers do: procrastination, doubt, the struggle to translate thoughts in words and the apprehension about sharing one's work," Bynum said. "Knowing that you're not alone and that other writers experience the same difficulties and joys can be very heartening."
But the students aren't the only ones to benefit from the interaction.
"I always enjoy the visits themselves, but what I love most is receiving the letters after the program is over," Shreve said. "This gives the shy students an opportunity to speak, through the relative safety of the lined page. It's very often the shy ones who become writers anyway."
"The thoughtful, challenging questions they ask make me see what I've written in a new light, and often force me to articulate things that I believe but that have remained abstract and unspoken," said Bynum.
"For me, as a writer, a program like this is a huge gift"
