Congratulations to UTEP professor and former
reader of the Buttered Toast Reading Series,
recipient of the 2011 American Book Award.
Video taken in 2009 at Kinley's Coffee House for the UCWS BTR.
When two creative writing students began The Undergraduate Creative Writing Society in 2008, their goal was to create a place for exchanging innovative ideas and promoting the work of student writers at UTEP.
Three years later, the group, which was started by Carl DeKoatz and David Scheier, is still using the written word for creative expression.
"Their vision was of a group or club for undergraduate creative writers, in which they could talk about their work in a space outside of the academic classroom; and create a venue or venues in which they could promote work by our talented undergraduate creative writers," said Jeffrey Sirkin, faculty advisor for UCWS and visiting assistant professor in creative writing.
The current president of the UCWS and senior creative writing major, Don Fenton, said the objectives for the UCWS have evolved.
"What we're basically about is creating a writing community here at UTEP. You don't get to meet many writers outside of the classes you take, or even writers who are not in the major, like a chemist," Fenton said. "Our sole purpose is to create this community of writers and to help each other with our craft."
Alexandra Welch-Quarm, freshman theater and British and American literature major, said the organization's goal is to encourage students with real-life examples.
"Writers come from all areas. Lewis Carroll, for instance, was actually a math teacher. J.K. Rowling had never considered writing as a career," Welch-Quarm said. "I have a friend who specializes in computers, who I convinced to join a creative writing class with me. He began to produce the funniest stories I've ever read."
Fenton said that the society has seen an increase in students from outside of the Liberal Arts College circle who want to join the society in order to satisfy their passion for the art of writing.
"They began a public reading series, called the Buttered Toast Reading Series, to give their members an opportunity to share their work with the public," Sirkin said. "They published a literary magazine, called The Whole Wheat Literary Magazine, featuring work by members of the group from that first year."
The Buttered Toast Reading Series has recently held at meetings at trendy cafés including The Percolator and Kinley's House.
"I think it's important that as a generation of students that come from UTEP, for each of our voices to be heard, for each of our stories to be heard," said Miguel Ramirez, member of the UCWS and senior creative writing major. "We have to make our own literature, our own poetry, our own prose because we're next."
Ramirez said that while students who love to write may be intimidated and reluctant to join the UCWS, he encourages them to do so.
"It's hard to share your work with your peers, but when you critique someone else's work you also learn a lot about your own work," Ramirez said. "People have a hard time getting past that intimidation, but we don't judge."
Jazmin Salinas may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.
