2021 WOW Symposium

On Thursday, September 30, Spartanburg Community College will host the seventh annual WOW: Wonders of Writing Symposium featuring published authors Esteban Rodriguez and Tiana Nobile from 7:00-8:00 pm virtually. Rodriguez and Nobile will share their insights, creativity, and enthusiasm for writing with SCC students, faculty, staff and community residents. 
 
"We are excited to introduce our students, as well as the Spartanburg community, to the poets and their works at this year’s WOW symposium. We hope this event grows students’ and community members’ interest in poetry and encourages attendees to explore questions about literature as well as the process of writing," explains Nettie Brooks, SCC instructor and WOW committee chair.
 
Made possible by matching grants from South Carolina Humanities in partnership with the SC Arts Commission and South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, WOW is free and open to the public. Attendees may register for the virtual event via Eventbrite at this link: www.eventbrite.com/WOW-Symposium-Register
 
The WOW Symposium connects the Spartanburg community with visionary authors to encourage critical reflection on relevant topics including culture, family, identity, immigration and racism. Rodriguez and Nobile, both published through the Hub City Press, will offer a master class and readings for SCC students as well as a public reading for community residents. Both events will include a question/answer session where attendees can virtually interact with the authors.
 
This semester, SCC English 102 students read Nobile’s collection of poems, Cleave, and Rodriguez’s collection, Dusk & Dust. In her book, Nobile, a Korean American adoptee, Kundiman fellow, recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award, and finalist of the National Poetry Series, explores her own adoption from South Korea and the broader, collective experience. She addresses Harry Harlow’s monkey experiments and includes elements from her own adoption documents in her writing. Her poems explore dislocation, familial relationships, and the science of love and attachment and have appeared in numerous literary magazines including Poetry Northwest, The New Republic, and Guernica. Rodriguez is a high school teacher and the Interviews Editor at the EcoTheo Review whose poetry has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, New England Review, Shenandoah, and TriQuarterly, among others. He has published numerous books of poetry, and his writing delves into how cultural traditions and expectations influence a person’s relationships and their interactions with the world. Dusk & Dust takes place along the United States-Mexico border and is narrated by a boy who struggles to find his identity in the area in which he lives. Filled with emotion and humor, the poems examine the lives of the narrator and those living around him.
 
Photos are available at the following link: www.flickr.com/WOW Symposium
 
For more information, contact Nettie Brooks at BrooksJ@sccsc.edu or (864) 592-4498.