A thought or an idea is where all pieces of literature get their start. It is scribbled down on a piece of paper before being transformed into a story in front of our eyes.

With the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series, Butler University students will be able to gain insight into the minds of writers that bring such works to life.

The series regularly hosts public readings and question-and-answer sessions with influential contemporary writers.

A committee made of Butler professors—all creative writers within the English department—is in charge of producing the list of potential writers to visit Butler.

“The committee, along with a selected number of graduate students, come together and brainstorm a list of potential writers,” said Chris Forhan, assistant English professor. “We weigh the pros and cons of each writer, as well as trying to maintain diversity of style between the visiting writers. We try and get both writers with a large appeal as well as lesser-known writers.”

Once the list of writers is decided upon, the committee attempts to bring them to campus. Forhan said the committee usually goes through the writers’ booking agents, addressing topics like pay and time the writer can spend in sessions with the community.

The series is not limited to just reading sessions and Q&A’s, though.

It also includes a writers-in-residence program, in which one fiction writer and one poet stay on campus for an additional period of time after their initial session. During this time, they visit classes, teach workshops and hold conferences.

This year’s first visiting writer was Margaret Atwood, who was on campus Sept. 12 and 13.

Atwood has more than 50 volumes of poetry, non-fiction and short stories to her name and has written 10 novels. Instead of holding a traditional reading of her works, she gave a lecture with the subject “Can you write the future?”

The speech delved not only into prediction and speculation about the future but also into Atwood’s own life, society as a whole and writing in general.

Atwood’s speech referenced her own works and experiences, as well as the works of famed poet Alfred Tennyson and author H.G. Wells.

“I was genuinely surprised by both the humor of Atwood as well as her being so up-to-date with the times,” freshman Emma Salter said. “It is no wonder she is considered one of the ten best personalities on Twitter.”

The next visiting writer in the series is poet Patricia Smith.

Smith will be holding her reading session this evening, with a Q&A session tomorrow morning.

Where Atwood’s themes and works stray into speculative fiction, Smith focuses on civil rights and cultural relations, and her poetry is done in a style known as poetry slam.

“I’m excited to hear Patricia Smith speak,” freshman Hannah Cianci said. “After hearing Atwood, it will be interesting to see the different style and themes in which a poet thinks and writes, as compared to a more novel-focused writer.”

The remainder of the year’s lineup of visiting writers includes author Peter Steinhart (Oct. 8), poet Eduardo C. Corral (Oct. 24), author Yiyun Li (Nov.8) and poet Robert Pinsky (Nov. 28).

Photo by Taylor Cox

To a standing-room-only audience, Ariel Schrag shed light on the vicious and hysterical process of growing up.

This graphic artist and comic book author makes the back-stabbing friends and the tortures of being gay at prom something to laugh about instead of a cause for worry and insecurity.

This Berkeley, Calif. native, dressed casually in a cardigan, slouchy jeans and white Chuck Taylors, read three of her comics through a black and white slideshow at the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing Thursday night.

Not a typical comic book series filled with action heroes and bright colors, Schrag’s comics tell her story of growing up.

No memory is safe, because Shrag draws on her personal experience for inspiration.

In one story she read, “Fight at the Gay Prom,” set to a musical soundtrack of punk music and an Aimee Mand ballad, Schrag recounts her evening at the annual gay prom during her freshman year of college at Columbia University.

At Barnard College, Columbia’s sister school, Schrag  got into a fight with another girl.

It really did happen—the fight, the name-calling, the wallet stealing, the being gay.  All of it is true.

She even was banned from Barnard College property, and she has the ban notice to prove it.

Schrag’s unique style of comics combines all mediums in a way that is distinctly her.

Julie Bickel, a senior creative writing major, said she thought Schrag’s work was creative and original.

“I  thought the  combination of audio and visuals was absolutely fantastic,” Bickel said.  “I never considered that coming from a comic.”

Schrag, despite being a solo performer, transforms into the many characters of her stories.

Using different voices and facial expressions, it is as if Schrag takes the back seat in her own comics as the characters shine through.

Photo by Taylor Cox

Thomas Hostetler, a freshman communication sciences and disorders major, had never heard of Schrag before her readings, but he said  he liked it.

“I found it interesting,” Hostetler said.

Over the past 20 to 25 years, graphic novels have begun to take on a new kind of gravity, said Robert Stapleton, an English professor who has introduced some graphic novels into his Freshman Seminar class.

“It was great that we had someone come who was current and vibrant in the field,” Stapleton said.

Schrag finished the three readings and then opened up the floor for questions.

Leaving the ban notice up on the screen for effect, Schrag answered questions with honesty, and it became evident that her work was about more than just drawing pictures and writing dialogue.

Schrag said the biggest challenge of her career was the unpredictable nature of the business.

However, she had a desire to follow her passions.

“There doesn’t seem to be much point in life,” Schrag said, “for not going for what you want.”

Photo by Taylor Cox

Once upon a time, there was a university in central Indiana with its eye on a stronger creative writing program.

Without waxing “Grimm,” Butler University’s tale involves a four-year-old Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing that needed a new home.

The Efroymson Center will begin hosting speaking events on Feb. 15, after opening in December to house the MFA program.

The center kicks off the visiting writers series with memoirist Karen Maezen Miller.

Miller is a Zen Buddhist priest – “not the kind of priest you have pictured in your mind,” according to her website — from Sierra Madre, Calif. She writes about spirituality in everyday life.

According to university publications, the Efroymson Center’s series will run alongside the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series with the guests of the Efroymson series placing special emphasis on the craft of writing.

While the speaking series gets off the ground, the Calliope Creative Writing Club, comprised of undergraduate writers from many majors, is still trying to get its foot in the door.

“Right now, the Efroymson center is promising, but we’re still working on actually finding an opportunity to start working in the center,” said Brian Gross, former president of Calliope.

He said scheduling conflicts with the center’s classes have prevented the group from moving to the center from its current meeting spot, Starbucks.

Chris Speckman, an MFA student in creative writing, said that accessibility will improve with time.

“Anytime you start a new endeavor of this magnitude, there’s a learning curve, so it’s to be expected that it may take a few months for the leaders of the program to figure out how to best utilize the space,” Speckman said.

A $1 million gift from The Efroymson Family Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation and Jeremy Efroymson gave the center its start.

The center is located in a building on Hampton Drive that once housed Butler presidents.

Speckman said that the center is perfect for writing and discussion with colleagues and professors.

“I’ve been at the center for classes, readings, meetings, quiet study and social functions, and it always seems to fit the need,” he said.

While the center specifically houses the graduate program, undergraduate English students have been taking advantage of its space and resources as well.

Ally Denton, a senior english creative writing major, said  the new center is one of the best things that could happen for the department.

“I’m just excited that the English department has a place on campus they, or we, can call our own,” Denton said.

The center is young and much remains to be seen, but the center has nothing but time to figure out the details.

Photo by Reid Bruner

By the end of this year, Butler University President Jim Danko will see a greater wave of people, primarily from the English department, hanging around his block.  Butler purchased and is refurbishing the house across from the president’s current residence and will be introducing it to the public as the new Efroymson Center for Creative Writing.

Hilene Flanzbaum, English department chair and professor, said that a $1 million grant was given to Butler’s Master of Fine Arts in the creative writing program to create a better space for the rapidly-growing MFA program and serve the needs of the department.

The center will accommodate workshops, classes for both graduates and undergraduates, community events and living space for visiting writers and graduate students in the program.

The purchase price was about $350,000, Flanzbaum said, and a maintenance fund will be set up to ensure the preservation of the house and its reputation as “a permanent asset to the university.”

The projected opening date is sometime toward the end of October, but the official opening ceremony is scheduled for early December.

Lydia Johnson, a senior English major, said she is drawn to the fact that the new center will be able to hold larger and longer events such as the Visiting Writers Series that can reach more people.

“As a student, any extra opportunities to speak with a published author or someone well versed in literature and writing is a gift,” Johnson said.

“I’m all for it,” junior English major Eric Ellis said.

Ellis said he is looking forward to the center’s multi-purpose capacity.

“The house looks beautiful, and I think it’s an awesome addition to the university,” he said. “Hopefully a lot of really cool activities will be held there.”

Spenser Isdahl, a recent Butler graduate, said he was a bit concerned that the writers using this center,“might be ‘out of sight, out of mind’ of the departmental administration once they have an external place to congregate.”

Nonetheless, Isdahl said he does wish the creative writing center had been around when he was a freshman.

“Outside of the very few writing classes available at Butler, it can be hard to find peers to critique one’s work, and I think the writing center will create a more conducive environment for that sort of networking,” Isdahl said.

The MFA program started four years ago and is still in its early phases.  There are currently 55 students enrolled.

“We had very modest expectations the first year, but the desire for the program has come to be more than what we expected,” Flanzbaum said.

Johnson said the program will help increase the popularity of Butler’s English department.

“It is another way that the English department can foster the growth of writers and help them to develop their own voice,” she said.

The first class of the MFA in creative writing program graduated one year ago. Flanzbaum said she has confidence within the English department that the new writing center will promote the continuation of the program’s success.

Ellis agreed.

“Butler’s MFA program is going to blossom into a very prestigious MFA program—one of national, possibly even international, merit,” Ellis said.