LIU Summer Writers Lab Reading

1. The crowd at Greenlight, ready to party. And listen. 2. Writer Benjamin Hale, Lisa Erickson of Scribner, & Sara Ortiz of Broadcastr.

On June 16–18th, you may have been going to the beach, or doing your shitty work at your shitty job, or going to the doctor’s office for that weird rash, or whatever else. At Long Island University’s Summer Writers Lab, however, students and writers were enjoying an intensive few days in which they learned (and/or taught) about the fundamentals of fiction. The lab included workshops lead by Jennifer Egan, Marlon James, Gabriel Cohen, Wesley Stace, and Rick Moody, as well as panels on the current literary marketplace and creating the writer’s website.

1. Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, the owner of Greenlight Books. 2. Our own Scott Lindenbaum, introducing the idea of Single Sentence Animations to the crowd.

1. Jessica Hagedorn, novelist and Lab Director. 2. Anton, a writer from San Diego and a student of the Writing Lab, reading his work.

This lab culminated last night at a reading for students and their work at Greenlight Bookstore. Electric Literature, co-creative sponsor, screened Single Sentence Animations between blocks of five readers. The students, a diverse group, consisting of all ages and backgrounds, read work that ranged from scenes from their stories, exercises from class, and fake Wikipedia entries.

Was the lab a success? Yes, says Hillary Miller, Lab Director. And one could tell this by the sheer number of students who signed up to read, which meant their efforts produced work they were enthusiastic and excited to share.

–Julia Jackson writes fiction and is a regular contributor to Electric Dish. She has an MFA from Brooklyn College.