ICE Event Review: Oswald Writer's Series
The Department of English held the Inter-Curricular Enrichment “ICE” event “The Spring 2023 Oswald Writer’s Series” on Mar. 16.
The writers featured at the event were Dr. Michael Howarth, a novelist and assistant professor of English at Missouri Southern State University (MSSU), and his wife Dr. Joey Brown, a poet and assistant professor of English at MSSU.
Howarth read a few chapters from his novel “A Still and Awful Red” which was released in April 2021. It is a gothic historical fiction that follows Maria, a seamstress, who is chosen to sew gowns for Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
Alejandra Brenes, a nursing major, found Howarth’s reading of “A Still and Awful Red” interesting and became invested in the story.
“I really enjoyed it cause I’m really interested in that kind of spooky mysterious stuff and I thought it was pretty cool,” said Brenes.
Howarth’s writing is detailed and vivid. One of the scariest parts of the reading was towards the end of the second chapter when he is describing the peasant boy’s punishment for stealing from the countess. The scene establishes an ominous tone before Maria’s meeting with the countess and was the perfect stopping point as it leaves readers anticipating what’s to come.
Dr. Amanda Warren, an assistant professor of English at USC Aiken, expressed her excitement for the different types of literature featured at the event.
“I really enjoyed the fact that we brought in some readers from elsewhere. I’ve always loved that about the Oswald Series. I love that we’re getting an experience from other places. And I like that this time we had someone whose doing some genre literature. So, I think that’s a lot of fun. We often times only focus on one kind of literature and we got something that was kind of like horror. I mean we got gothic horror and we never got a gothic horror writer before. I also really enjoyed Joey Brown’s poems. I like that literature,” said Warren.
Brown read several poems from her book “The Ferl Love Poems” which was released in March 2021. A few of the poems were:
Rita
Betty
Gary’s Girl
Joe, My Neighbor Says
The Last Hill Before Oklahoma
The Widow Shows Me Around the House
Her style of poetry is portraiture and environment based. Brown described it as taking a snapshot of a person when you observe a particular element about them such as the way people talk.
“Of the ones that she read tonight, I really liked the Rita poem. I like that voice and place. I love the line she says ‘unlike you say Oklahoma.’ I think that gives us a good sense of that person,” said Warren.
The writers also gave the audience insight into their individual writing processes. Howarth keeps a list of potential book projects and always writes down his ideas. He goes back to the list and finds the one he is most excited about. Howarth starts the process by doing a lot of research and outlining the story and characters. The outline is subject to change and often does.
Howarth’s advice on always writing down ideas and the part where he talked about how his outlines often change could be helpful for those who also do a lot of research and outlining. It can be easy to get attached to certain ideas or plot points and not want to change them.
In contrast, Brown does not outline but does write down ideas and captures different pieces. She keeps journals and might pull lines from the journals to see what she can piece together. Brown also tries to listen to the voice of a particular character and let it flow naturally.
Candace Amaker, a senior art major, related to Brown’s process of letting the characters and story flow naturally rather than outlining.
“Oh honestly, I could relate to Joey Brown’s process so much, because I never have an outline for my stories either. But her being able to write multiple pages of something in a day is something I want to try to do myself. Not like an essay for school or anything, just something for me,” said Amaker.
Kayla Hartsock, a senior secondary education English major, enjoyed hearing about their different writing processes such as how Howarth edits as he writes instead of going back once he’s finished.
“It’s nice to know there’s no right way with how he said it takes him more time, but she’ll just turn 20 pages out ‘cause we’re usually taught form and a certain way,” said Hartsock.
The Oswald Writer’s Series ICE event gave the audience the opportunity to ask published authors questions, which is extremely valuable. It was an engaging event that introduced students to two writers with different approaches to the process itself and learn more about their works. After the ICE event, the audience was able to purchase the books and get their copies signed by the authors. Overall, the event was insightful and fun to attend.
