Claire Allison McGuire

Features Editor

On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20-21, the English department sponsored College of Wooster students to travel to the Cleveland Public Library for the 10th Inkubator Writing Conference. 

This conference is hosted every year to inspire writers through workshops, craft talks, panel discussions, open mics, book fairs, keynotes and an afterparty reading. The event is sponsored by Literary Cleveland, Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference.

 “Our goal is to help you generate new material, improve your craft, advance your career and connect with fellow writers from across the Midwest,” wrote Matt Weinkam, executive director of Literary Cleveland.

This year’s theme for the conference was “Create Dangerously.” Among the attendees were English professors Marlo Starr and Christopher Kang. The Dodge, a Wooster founded literary magazine that publishes eco-writing and works on animals and translations, was also represented at the event by English Professor Dan Bourne.

 “I was thrilled the English department agreed to fund a few students to attend the Inkubator Conference,” said Rachel Newman ’27. 

The conference opened on Friday with writer Eryka Parker’s workshop titled “Crafting Your Literary Universe: Building a Flagship Series.” In this workshop, guests at the conference learned about how to implement world-building, branding, character development and narrative continuity in their writing. Wooster students also attended the workshop titled “National Soul: Notions of National Identity in Poetry” led by writer Tiara Dinevska-McGuire, which taught students the definition of Macedonian poetry. Rounding out the Friday workshops were “The Things You Learn: Research for Historical Fiction” led by Katharine Beutner, David Wright Faladé, Bonnie J. Gordon and Claire McMillan, “Raise Your Voice: How an Effective Voice Can Refine Your Story” led by Nardine Taleb and “Writing Toward Peace” with Loung Ung and Laura Maylene Walter. Friday night ended with dinner and an open mic to allow writers to network and share their work.

Saturday was also jam-packed full of workshops for attendees. There was “The First 5 Pages: Crafting Gripping Starts to Keep Readers Interested” led by Parker, “Writing Ghosts: In Praise of Hauntings, Ancestry, and the Unknown” taught by Athena Dixon, Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, Diana Khoi Nguyen and Sara Read, “Bound Together: The Politics of Place in Prose” led by Madeline Fitch and “The Invisible Art of Revision” from Peter Ho Davies. The conference concluded with an afterparty reading with the theme “Visible Voice” from several of the speakers.

Many students at the event found value in the workshops and in the information they learned. “I really enjoyed the historical fiction research lecture on day one,” Esther Lamb ’27 said. “It was really informative for me to hear about different ways to research for stories, and it was also useful for academic work.” 

Stuart Franklin ’27 also found value in the conference. “I most enjoyed the writing workshops and panel discussion offered,” Franklin said. “Their themes were thought-provoking, and the speakers were highly qualified and knowledgeable. Thanks to this opportunity, I feel equipped and inspired to continue pursuing creative writing as a hobby.” 

Students found the community inspiring to their craft. “We got to be in an environment with other writers, which was really inspiring and we were able to attend different talks about how to gather inspiration and continue with your project. It was an amazing experience and I felt like it really taught me a lot about the writing world,” said Sinclaire Gibson ’27. 

The writing community within Wooster’s campus is alive and growing. The College of Wooster aims to provide experiential learning and growth opportunities such as this one.

Rachel Newman ’27 states “It was a great bonding experience with other students while learning from writers at so many different stages in their careers…[I]t makes creative writing very accessible and shows people all the different ways they can pursue it in their lives.”

To learn more about The Dodge, contact the English department.