Author Scott Russell Sanders leads 2016 Writers Festival
Scott Russell Sanders, award-winning author and environmental activist Photo: indiana.edu
By Hannah Cole, Literature Columnist
Author Scott Russell Sanders opened the first event of Lee's 2016 Writer's Festival, Feb. 24, with wise words.
'You don't become a writer only by studying writing. You do it by engaging in anything that interests you. It's not just a subject; it's a way of being in the world," Sanders said.
Sanders shared some of his most recent stories with students that are paired with photographs taken by Peter Forbes. He wrote each of the eight stories he read based on a photograph in Forbes' collection, and the combination of the image with a corresponding creative essay was a powerful pairing. Sanders wrote stories on the photos he kept coming back to because 'something about the image struck [him], provoked [him].'
The idea of writing based on a photograph intrigued me, and the way Sanders incorporated the image into each piece, as well as the words themselves, mirror his concern for the preservation of the world we inhabit. He found inspiration in seemingly unrelated photos and gave them a more powerful and poignant voice.
All writers think differently; their worldviews and experiences are unique to them, and they write out of interest for a particular story or subject. Sanders said that writing is not merely a subject we enjoy or a major we may have in college ' that 'it's a way of being in the world'' is thought-provoking, and it calls into question why we write.
I don't read or write because I'm an English major. I do it because it's connected to something deeper, and my desire to write and to read is related to what I am passionate about.
It is freeing to think this way and to realize that it is true. Hopefully, when we create a work of art, a piece of writing, anything, we do so because we are drawn to something that strikes us about it, that provokes us. The stories Sanders read spoke his passion for conservation and his deep concern for the world we live in. My writing reflects things other than Sanders' writing, but it reflects who I am and what is important to me.
Lee will host two more Writer's Festival events which will be held in March and April.
