Northwestern’s artists-in-residence work with aspiring students in their fields.
Non-fiction writer Eula Biss became a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award in the criticism category for “Notes from No Man’s Land: American Essays”, a book that explores racial issues in the United States, in early February. The author was serving as one of the five artists-in-residence for Northwestern’s department of english at the time.
The department is one of many at NU that brings prominent people to campus to benefit students. The department’s artists-in-residence include Biss, writer and documentary filmmaker John Bresland and poet Averill Curdy.
While English professors usually write about literature, artists-in-residence write literature, said Prof. Mary Kinzie, director of the English Major in Writing.
“Artists-in-residence are supposed to be doing their work and be moderately available to students and other faculty,” Kinzie said.
Classes taught by artists-in-residence usually cap at about 15 students, a size that benefits students, she said.
“These are classes which you can’t hide, and you can’t be passive,” Kinzie said. “Part of your activity as opposed to passivity is working on your writing all the time.”
The Center for the Writing Arts’ residency program began in the early 1990’s, said Stacy Oliver, assistant director. At the time they noticed a “cohesive theme” on campus-a passion for writing, she said. The goal of the program was to not only attract writers but to create classes open to students across majors, she said.
“We wanted to give all students-engineers, pre-med, communication majors-a neutral territory to have a wonderful experience in writing,” Oliver said.
Alex Kotlowitz, an award-winning author of non-fiction, including “The Other Side of the River,” has been a writer-in-residence since 2001.
Kotlowitz, who is also a Medill professor, teaches one writing class for the center each winter. He said his writing classes are composed of a very diverse group of students.
“My best all-time writer was an economics major,” he said.
Though Kotlowitz said being a writer-in-residence made him more self-conscious of his work, he said it has been rewarding to connect with students. Kotlowitz met with about 20 residential college students at the John Evans Alumni Center for hot chocolate, tea, cookies and conversations about his work Tuesday.
He said he tries to keep personal work on hand even during teaching.
“It acts as a reminder of what students are going through,” he said. “I feel more collegial.”Weinberg sophomore Anna Wang said she studied one of Kotlowitz’s more renowned books, “There Are No Children Here,” during her freshman seminar, “America’s Invisible Children.”
NU offers students a unique opportunity to have close contact with artists and writers, Wang said.
