The Eckleburg Project is hosting a series of poetry and prose workshops to aid aspiring writers prior to the literary magazine’s upcoming submissions deadline.
The Eckleburg Project is the official undergraduate literary magazine of Texas A&M and is approaching its fouth edition.
“I don’t think a lot of people realize how strong the art community is here, so we’re really about breaking that stigma,” said Gabi Aguilar, the publication’s editor-in-chief.
Adam Navara, managing editor of The Eckleburg Project, said these workshops benefit both the magazine as well as any aspiring student writers.
“We’d like to continue to showcase and to grow, and so one of the best ways to do that, I think, is to host these workshops and help people who are interested in writing and becoming artists,” Navara said.
The magazine will host a workshop for both poetry and prose writing to provide a way to overcome some of the common obstacles many artists and writers face.
“Really the strongest fear is just getting started,” Aguilar said. “With some of the prompts that we have, and with some of the things that each team has gotten prepared for everybody, it will hopefully help with that brainstorming process and getting everything started.”
Navara said the magazine’s staff will be available at the workshop to lead exercises and brainstorming activities.
“I think a lot of people can plateau in their own style and they can kind of box themselves into an idea of what they think writing is, and so I think workshops where they can communicate with other artists and things like that and see a broad range of styles and what good fiction and good poetry is helps them grow and helps them develop,” Navara said.
Aida Rosalia, prose editor for the Eckleburg Project, said the goal is to foster writing. The workshops will be open to those who bring their own pieces into the workshops as well as those hoping to start from the beginning.
“We’re encouraging students to come and bring their own prose pieces, if they have any, and we’ll look over it and give them feedback,” Rosalia said. “If not, they can come and we have our own pre-planned mini-lesson to some specific aspects of prose such as setting or characterization. We can talk about those and give really excellent examples from pre-established literature and show them this is something that shows you who the character was.”
The workshops will be offering help to students and non-students in Bryan-College Station and will offer prompts, editing and critiques for those who attend. The prose workshop will be from 8:30-9:30 p.m. Thursday in Rudder 402 and from 7:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday in MSC 2500.