Writer and poet Elisa Gonzalez was welcomed to the hilltop to host a poetry reading and Q&A session with students. The event, hosted by the School of Arts and Humanities, marks the first of four readings that will comprise The Marcia Kinsey Visiting Writers Series, an annual series that hosts award-winning writers on campus to read their works and share insight on them. In addition to Gonzalez, employees from the Austin-local bookstore BookWoman hosted a pop-up, selling Gonzalez’s book and other books related to her work.
A New York University and Yale graduate, Gonzalez established her notoriety by having her work published in renowned literary magazines such as “The New Yorker” and “The Paris Review,” as well as being an esteemed recipient for multiple literature and writing awards. Gonzalez read select works from her debut book “Grand Tour: Poems.” Each piece had a specific, yet unique tone that perfectly highlighted the complexity of her work. She wanted to read poems that highlighted the variety of her themes.
“There are a few that I almost always read, but I wanted to try to give a sense of the various kinds of themes of the book,” Gonzalez said. “So I would not just read poems that are all about family or all about relationships or all about death.”
Each poem had a contemporary, freewriting style with lack of rhyme. Her poems explore topics that reflect her personal experiences, past and present, such as growing up in a Christian-based, Midwest community and discovering her identity as a bisexual woman.
However, some poems also included heavier, somber themes, like the one she used as an outlet for her grief in the midst of her brother’s untimely death. The variety of her poems were meant to serve as a reminder to the attendees that writing is a spectrum that anyone can venture into.
“I think sometimes it’s easy to think that you, as a student writer, must write in a certain way or say or speak kind of certainly,” Gonzalez said. “And I think the more ways you see people doing that in the world, perhaps the more freeing it is for your individual voice. I’m just putting a line out there and saying this is one way to be a writer.”
Mary Specht, Ph.D., associate professor of creative writing, is in charge of planning and organizing this year’s visiting writer series, inviting speakers as well as getting in touch with BookWoman for their appearances at the event. Specht emphasizes that the purpose of this annual series is to open the door to students and showcase the variety of literature styles that these writers have to offer, as they range from novelists to poets to playwrights.
“You might have a certain kind of view of what you think literature is, but a lot of contemporary literature does really crazy, different stuff,” Specht said. “And not all of us are given a lot of contemporary, modern literature. So hopefully this series helps bring some of those kinds of writers to students’ attention.”
