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Abbey Fitzpatrick only attended Nicole Terez Dutton’s book reading Wednesday for her ENG 107 class, but having left with meaningful insight and the opportunity to hear an author read their own work, Fitzpatrick said this won’t be her last time going to the series.

“It’s an opportunity you don’t get all the time to read a book and then meet the author. All of them have been so kind and welcoming,” said Fitzpatrick, a freshman at Syracuse University. “I’m not even an English major, I’m a political science and CCE major, but I just really enjoy this stuff.”

The book reading is a part of the Raymond Carver Reading Series, which brings in the authors of six readings for question-and-answer events. The series is hosted and overseen by faculty within the creative writing program and is put on by the English Department. This week the series brought in Dutton, the author of “If One of Us Should Fall.”

Dutton’s book is a collection of poems that follows a traveling musician who details her trip and the various experiences, conversations and observations that add to her experience on the road. Before Dutton read various poems from her book, students could ask questions about Dutton and her book based on their interpretation and understanding of her writing.

Fitzpatrick said she really enjoyed Dutton’s thoughtful answers and welcoming demeanor. The question-and-answer session and reading allowed her to rethink Dutton’s work and look back at some of the discussions they had in class.

Following the Q&A session, Dutton took to the podium to read some of her poems and speak about some of the stories behind the pieces. She spoke about how many people falsely assume all of her pieces are based solely on personal experience. Her brief anecdotes ranged from first-person experiences to stories in which she was a bystander, but still found a way to put them into poetry.

Dutton spoke about how being in a space so connected with the writing community has so much value. She added how she remembers attending talks like this and how valuable they were to her as a writer.

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“I just think it’s a rich exchange and I think it’s an opportunity to share and to be together and to have some calming ground,” Dutton said. “It feels really precious to have the gift of someone’s time and their attention.”

Sarah Harwell, associate director of the creative writing program and a member of the committee that plans the reading series, said the series is important since there aren’t many opportunities on campus for students to hear from contemporary authors. Harwell said that giving students a shared space where they get to read the book, ask questions of the author and hear the pieces read aloud is impactful.

“It’s rare to get to hear poetry aloud once you’ve studied it and it’s a whole different experience,” Harwell said.

The series also works as a great way to help students better understand the works of these authors. Harwell added how poetry is a form of writing that many students often struggle with or don’t feel comfortable reading, but talks like these help.

Dutton’s talk gave students an opportunity to better understand her book, which can be seen as a difficult read for people who don’t feel comfortable reading poetry, Harwell said. She also said that the talk, combined with the discussions with professors and the analyses they do in the class, make the works more interesting and fulfilling to read.

Even Dutton got something out of the event, and said she doesn’t take the opportunity to connect with the writing community and her audience for granted.

“It was such a warm welcome and this is clearly a community where people care about each other and support each other,” Dutton said. “I would also say that it’s especially gratifying to read to people who you can tell are really listening.”

As students filed out, some eagerly stood in line waiting for Dutton to sign their copy of her book and briefly chat with her about her reading.

“She just captured so many beautiful moments of her life into poems and it kind of inspires me to want to capture small moments of my life,” Fitzpatrick said. “Whether that be in poetry, or in other ways like through photos or just notes or a journal.”

Published on March 1, 2023 at 11:20 pm