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news:
Wolff reading
fun for all
By Akira Hayakawa
On-line Forty-Niner
The New York Times
best selling author, Geoffrey Wolff, read his unfinished novel
Thursday night in the University Library Faculty Development
Center.
Geoffrey Wolff,
a Southern California native, is a professor of English and
comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine,
as well as the director of master of fine arts program in
fiction writing.
"In the first
place, he's a terrific author," said CSULB English professor
Stephen Cooper. "I just want to make sure that we have
a good relationship with UCI."
The English department
and English Student Association at Cal State Long Beach invited
the author to come out and read.
"It's good
for authors to try out on a live audience. For students, it's
an excellent opportunity to listen to a work in progress,"
Cooper said. "It was a good response from the audience."
Audience members
listened to his reading earnestly while sometimes laughing
at the story content.
"I liked it
a lot. I was into the story in the first page," said
senior creative writing major Cassandra Hearn. "I wanted
to ask him if he'll come back here next week and to read the
next chapter."
Wolff also gained
something out of this reading session.
"I had a terrific
time. This is a very good audience," Wolff said.
Some audience members
asked questions about how he gets ideas for stories.
"It varies
all over the place," Wolff said. "Sometimes it's
a character as it was this time."
He found the character
for his new novel in a newspaper and used his imagination
to expand the story and.
"I'm so impressed
whenever an author comes on campus, it gives me such an incentive
to go and write," said Kelly Ryan Schendel, senior creative
writing major. She said she was inspired not only to write
but also to look for everyday occurrences to find a story
just like Wolff.
"I enjoyed
his reading very much because he was animated," said
junior creative writing major Jamie Rogers. "I've learned
what inspires each writer to write and their technique.
"I've been
to each reading this semester, and I'm very pleased to see
support and increased number of people that have attended
because I think it's important to have aspiring writers on
campus."
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