Photo by Logan McCormick
Writer’s Institute Hosts Annual Faculty Reading to Open the Academic Year
By Lily Papendick
The start of the fall 2025 semester means life at Susquehanna is officially back in full swing, and the Writer’s Institute is no exception. To commemorate the beginning of the academic year, they hosted their annual Faculty Reading on September 2nd in Isaac’s Auditorium to welcome new and returning students back to campus. This year’s reading featured seven creative writing professors from all types of genres, including two visiting assistant professors.
The night opened with the director of the writer’s institute, Dr. Catherine Zobal-Dent, reading a short poem from author Khalisa Rae, who will be visiting Susquehanna University later this semester on October 21 as part of the Seavey Reading Series.
The first official reading of the night came from Dr. Apoorva Bradshaw-Mittal, visiting assistant professor of fiction. A gender/queer author from northern India, they announced they are currently working on a novel and a novella, though they chose to read an excerpt from their aforementioned novel-in-progress titled “Couplings.” Centering around a writer who lives on her own and is contemplating renting her unused workspace to a toymaker, the excerpt was both captivating and humorous, as the narrator had a few witty lines that elicited laughs from the audience. In terms of the book as a whole, Dr. Bradshaw-Mittal said that the novel “combines queerness within a queerphobic society” along with “elements of magic” while the novel’s characters continue to search for the answer to “who do I belong with?”
The following reading came from the second visiting assistant professor, Dr. Sean Ironman. Declaring himself as an essayist, Dr. Ironman holds a PhD in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia and is currently teaching a fiction, nonfiction, and a literature studies class here at Susquehanna. Dr. Ironman read an excerpt titled “Outside the Street’s on Fire” from his memoir “As Many Roast Bones as You Need,” which he’s currently working on but hopes to complete soon. The excerpt was riveting as Dr. Ironman described the tedious process of moving his aging mother out of her house while simultaneously dealing with complex emotions surrounding his father. Ironman’s language was detailed and vibrant, especially when it came to describing the layout of his mother’s house in a way that made the audience feel like they were on this journey right along with him.
The night continued with three poetry readings from professor Monica Prince, who specializes in activist and performance writing. Her first poem, titled “Mistress in Recovery: A Choreopoem,” focused on a young woman who consistently pursues unavailable partners. For her second reading, which was taken from her recently published choreopoem “Roadmap,” Professor Prince had her husband perform the poem aloud. A Oulipian constraint with a lipogram for the word ‘suicide,’ the poem was profound as it concentrated on the life of young black boys, particularly how their leading cause of death is suicide. For her final poem, Professor Prince read the poem “A Cento for the Violence of Forbidden Yearning,” which was taken from her in-progress chapbook “Wait Like an Ache.” It was a found poem, or a poem that takes words and phrases from already published works and rearranges them into something new.
The fourth reading of the night came from the Co-Chair of the Department of English and Creative Writing, Dr. Silas Dent Zobal. He read an excerpt from his novel “Heartseed,” which he recently finished after working on it for eight years. His ‘excerpt’ was taken from three different sections of the novel so the audience could get a glimpse of each of his characters’ perspectives. The first section was told from seventeen-year-old Jonas Troutman’s point-of-view when he discovers a bunch of sheep with their throats cut on his farm in Pennsylvania. The second section came from Jonas’s father, Levi, after he was shot and woke up in the hospital. The third section came from Jonas’ mother, Susan, when she first gave birth to Jonas seventeen years prior. As Dr. Zobal described his novel, “Heartseed” studies “how we resist what seeks to contain us” while also emphasizing “how community surrounds us.”
Dr. Dent returned to the stage for her own reading, which came from the opening chapter of her novel-in-progress “Jubilee.” Before jumping into her reading, Dr. Dent explained how she found solace and encouragement in last semester’s novel writing class through her unfortunate battle with cancer, which inspired her to continue working on “Jubilee” after some time off. The chapter had a playful feel as it moved backwards into the narrator’s childhood, describing how she used to hide under the kitchen table to eavesdrop as her mother and aunts shared stories with each other.It also had a tone of uncertainty as the narrator described her evolving relationship with her mother as she got older, leading up to her mother’s death. Dr. Dent’s reading was motivating to all in the audience and demonstrated that roadblocks that appear in life’s path can’t stop you from continuing to reach your goal.
To switch up the pace of the night came Professor Glen Retief’s reading from his article “Letter from Trumpland — a visit to historic Indian boarding school in Pennsylvania reopens an old ache,” which was published in The Daily Maverick this past May. As Professor Retief described his visit to the now-closed Carlisle Indian Industry School, which was founded in 1879 with the mission to “cleanse students of their home cultures,” he clicked through a slideshow featuring select photos he had taken of children’s faces from a group photo on display in the small museum of the Cumberland County Historical Society. As he toured the facility, Professor Retief recounted memories of his own experiences at boarding school in South Africa as a young boy, many of which were unpleasant ones. To conclude the piece, Professor Retief reflected on the approximately one hundred and eighty children who passed away at the Carlisle Indian Industry School and what they may have been thinking in their final moments, praying for “an ancestor to lift [them] up and take [them] home.” Although a melancholy piece, Professor Retief was able to shed light on an important subject that is relatively unknown and generate awareness towards this side of America’s history.
Dr. Karla Kelsey performed the final reading of the night as she read from her piece “Six cut Flowers for the Self-Replicating Machine,” which was a poem in six parts, each part containing one hundred words. Dr. Kelsey’s language was rich, and the poem’s imagery was strong, containing phrases like “history in my spine,” “burning piano,” and “crystal palace.” This was Dr. Kelsey’s first time sharing this poem with anyone, and it was a pleasure to hear her read it as the concluding piece of the night.
Overall, it was a wonderful first night back with the Writer’s Institute. The next event will be the first installment of this year’s Seavey Reading Series on September 16 at 7 p.m. in Isaac’s Auditorium by Susquehanna’s own Dr. Laurence Roth. Hope to see you there!