The young, the literary and the hip came out to hear ASU students present prose and poetry from the first Student Reading Contest, sponsored by ASU’s creative writing club, WORD.

The writers competed for the chance to present to a live audience at Changing Hands Bookstore at Guadalupe Road and McClintock Drive Monday night.

Ultimately, four writers earned the right to read at Changing Hands Bookstore: creative writing senior Kyle Snow and philosophy junior John-Michael Bloomquist for poetry and English literature sophomore Holly Hall and English literature senior Ryan David Scattergood for prose.

Snow began the reading with four poems. He composed two for school and two for a book he is writing.

As editor of Lux, a creative writing review published by Barrett, the Honors College, Snow said he attends literary readings throughout the year.

“I definitely see a lot of the same faces, but I see a lot of new people too,” he said. “It’s nice when you have a place like this to come to.”

Snow, who is also a former state press reporter and columnist described the creative writing scene at ASU as “fledgling,” but said he and others are working to change that.

Scattergood earned his place among the four readers with his short story, “This Night the Password was Silence.”

He read a passage from the story depicting the meeting of a damaged man and woman who, over the course of an evening together, realize they can help each other deal with their pain.

“I've been writing since I was a little kid,” Scattergood said.
The contest illustrates one way to get involved in community arts and inspire higher community unity, he said.

“In this Wal-mart culture right now, it's very important to support and improve the local community,” he said. “It brings people together.”

Nikki Vanry, a creative writing senior, established WORD this fall as a means to bring people together to talk about writing for serious improvement and fun.

“I started a summer writing exchange with a friend I had in a writing class, and I just realized how wonderful it was to have someone to talk about writing to,” she said. “I just got the idea: There should be a club for it.”

WORD organizes regular events for writers and has weekly workshops, but larger projects like question and answer sessions with well-established writers and career planning have become increasingly popular, Vanry said.

Vanry said she chose Changing Hands Bookstore because of its consistent support to all writers. Touring authors speak at the store frequently, and it hosts many writing-themed events and workshops.

“I thought creative writers should have a way of being rewarded for their work, she said. “It’s an amazing forum and an amazing place to read.”

WORD received more than 30 submissions before the competition’s November deadline. Auditions were held to narrow the field. The English department provided two judges, who graded participants on literary content and public reading ability.

Vanry said the event’s importance comes from stepping out of the strictly academic sense of writing.

“In academic creative writing, there’s not enough emphasis on the public forum.”

Reach the reporter at channing.turner@asu.edu.