Dear Odyssey Community:
As we wrap up the first year of Odyssey’s Moser Family Writer in Residence Initiative, I’d like to thank all those who participated in our inaugural suite of classes and attended our author talk with Eric Puchner about his wonderful novel Dream State. Over the course of the year, our alumni community came together from across the world and from many different backgrounds to think deeply about memory and imagination, about the poems of Catullus, about time in literature, about the Japanese short story form. Thank you to our instructors, to our participants, and especially to the Moser family who made it possible for us to gather over a shared love of writing and literature.
As the Moser Family Creative Writing program moves into our second year of programming, we’re thinking even bigger about how to connect readers, writers, and Hopkins alumni across the globe. We’re planning two book talks with exceptional authors (both JHU affiliates), one in the fall and one in the spring. Keep your eyes peeled – you may have the chance to participate in a book club leading up to these events! In collaboration with the Office of the Arts, we will also offer several literary excursions: one at the Baltimore Museum of Art and another further afield.
We are also thrilled to offer a new suite of classes, all taught by alumni of the Writing Seminars. Whether you are a fiction writer, a memoirist, a poet, or simply a curious reader, I’m confident we have something coming up that will speak to you. This fall, I will teach a class on the intersection of prose poetry and short fiction. Jalen Eutsey and Nathan Blansett will teach courses on exploring the depths of individual subjectivity in poetry and on the work of Nobel laureate Louise Glück. Jane Kim will teach a class on contemporary Korean speculative fiction.
As you explore our offerings, I encourage you to try something you’ve never tried before. It’s easy to feel perfectionistic about our writing. What might become possible when we move away from perfection toward curiosity, creativity, and community?
I speak for all of us at Odyssey when I say I look forward to seeing you in the fall!
Sincerely,
Gabriella Fee, JHU Writing Seminars ’22