Under the soft glow of Welcome Diner's lights, Four Chambers Press hosted “Poetry and Prose” Saturday night. The event incorporated comfort food, friends and local authors who read aloud from “Welcome Home,” the publishing group's most recent release.
Four Chambers Press is a local literary magazine focused on building its community, which publishes one issue a year, according to its website.
Kelsey Pinckney, assistant editor-in-chief, introduced 20 authors out of the 68 submissions for "Welcome Home" and talked about why Welcome Diner was the ideal location for the event.
“Yeah, it’s a restaurant, but it sits in the middle of a neighborhood, and is a really, really strong source of identity for downtown Phoenix,” she said.
Welcome Diner, located in the Garfield neighborhood in Phoenix, is not only a meeting place for families, a study place for students and a source of inspiration for local writers, it also provides the comfort of home for travelers and Phoenix residents alike.
Pinckney said Welcome Diner was the inspiration for “Welcome Home.” She said the publication “put a call out” for local writers that were inspired by the diner and the response Four Chambers received was nothing less than successful.
While Welcome Diner’s ambience is artistic, Pinckney said, "It makes you feel like you are at your grandma’s house.”
Mike Pfister, Phoenix resident and ASU English professor, said the collaboration between Four Chambers and Welcome Diner provides a great network for journalism students and aspiring writers to meet.
“They give a platform to students that allows them to meet other community-based writers,” Pfister said. “They always have a great presence at events they hold— like this one— of students from the Downtown campus who are active in the writing community.”
Journalism junior Hattie Hayes said Welcome Diner never fails to provide an atmosphere of inclusion.
“This is the epitome of the downtown Phoenix creative community," she said. "It seems like everyone who comes to this space is innovative in the way that they are trying to shape Phoenix to what they want to see in a city. I come here at least once a week and I know every time I come here I will see someone I know.”
Hayes said she is a long-time Welcome Diner and Four Chambers fan.
“The intersection of Four Chambers and the Welcome Diner is something that everyone agreed needed to happen, but no one was able to express their love for it in this way,” she said. “They had so much power to bring so many people together, they published a damn book about it.”
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ASU alumnus leads 'Memory and Identity' workshop for fellow writers
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