The Return of Reading Rooms
Historically, the WIU English Department has hosted a monthly ‘reading room’. In the past, reading rooms entailed four separate readings, one each from four featured readers: an undergraduate student, a graduate student, an alumni, and a faculty member (the readings took place in that order). The reading rooms allowed individuals to share their recent work and to gauge audience reactions to it.
On February 16th, 2024, the historic ‘reading room’ (RR) returned, breaking its three-month hiatus. This RR took place in a Zoom room hosted by Professor Barbara Lawhorn. This was the first ever RR hosted online.
The four featured readers were Gerry Campos (undergraduate), Jailine Gonzalez (graduate), Carlos Williamson (alumni), and Dr. Erika Wurth (faculty). Each reader took a moment to share their recent work with the collective.
Gerry Campos, a 24-year-old Mexican-American, shared an incredible and insightful P.O.V. story about a blood curse impacting innocent children in Baghdad, Iraq.
Jailine Gonzalez shared a group introspective on a previously written piece inspired by Daphne Palasi Andreades’ Brown Girls. Gonzalez’s take on this piece format was titled Chemists.
Carlos Williamson, a Fulbright scholar and author at the Evanston Roundtable, shared a piece of fiction that had been nominated for many creative awards and had been masterfully written. Including profound statements such as, “…dancing is just light fighting”.
Finally, the RR concluded with a reading by Dr Erika Wurth, a faculty member at WIU University. She read an excerpt from one of her published novels, White Horse.
