On September 22 and 23, Luther College hosted its seventh biennial Writers Festival since its inception in 2007, celebrating diversity in contemporary writing.
The festival consisted of keynote speeches, author panels on craft and publication, a book sale and more. The speakers included Ari Tison, Athena Kildegaard, Professor of English Amy Weldon, Carol Roh Spaulding, Darius Stewart, Denton Loving, Jeremy Schraffenberger, Joe Milan, Julia Ridley Smith, Kathryn Savage, Mark Oppenheimer, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Moheb Soliman and Scott Samuelson.
The theme of this year’s event was “Writing the Tree of Life: Language in Place.” The festival was co-directed by Amy Weldon and Keith Lesmeister. Weldon elaborated on the idea behind the theme.
“Both of us care deeply about the ways writing can be enabled and inspired by communities of humans and nonhumans in particular places,” Weldon said.
The opening session was conducted by Mark Oppenheimer, a noted journalist and historian. Oppenheimer has taught at Stanford University, Wesleyan University, Wellesley College, New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and Boston College, where he was the Corcoran Visiting Professor of Christian-Jewish Relations. His most recent book, “Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood,” published in 2021, talked about the 2018 anti-semitic attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and the impact it had on the community. Weldon mentions that the book’s message of healing directly connects to what the Luther community is about.
“The Book of Revelation says, ‘In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manners of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations,’” Weldon said.
The festival was inspired and motivated by the realization that exceptional literature can be developed in a community setting. Keeping in mind Luther College’s roots in the Driftless region, the event sought to remind people of the community in which students, teachers, and staff are enlivened and transformed by meetings with one another, the exchange of ideas, and the life of faith and learning.
“Luther College’s mission statement speaks of our rootedness in the Driftless region: “As a residential college, Luther is a place of intersection,” said Weldon.
English major Mia Irving (‘24) attended the festival. She valued the chance to participate in the event and connect with other authors who share her interests.
“This festival reminded me how important having a community of writers is,” Irving said. “As a writer myself, it’s always good to remind myself that humanity needs writers and that writers can still find publication and be successful in today’s world.”
The organizers of the festival hope to keep delivering this program to students and staff in order to involve the larger community. Weldon said that the most memorable moment for her of the festival was watching the plan for the event come together.
“Watching writers be together and make connections – and watching students realize how important it is to attend and engage with events like this, how much there is to be learned and found – is always wonderful,” Weldon said.
