The creative talent that has passed through the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library as a result of The Open Book series would rival even the most prestigious literary conferences.
From Martin Amis to David Mitchell, the series hosts both best selling recognized authors and lesser-known up-and-comers in lecture and discussion type sessions right on USC's Campus.
The College of Arts and Sciences has engineered their Open Book Series as a chance for students, faculty and members of the community to interact with these celebrated authors.
“We bring some of the most famous writers in the world to campus, and it’s a really great thing for students to see that literature is not just a dead thing trapped in books, but something that’s being made now,” Elise Blackwell, the host of The Open Books series said.
Blackwell, the author of four novels herself and a member of the Master of Fine Arts in creative writing faculty at USC, offers her take on some of the books during the Monday night discussions. Other guest speakers contribute to the series as well, including authors Nikky Finney and Peter Steinberg.
The Wednesday sessions feature appearances by the authors themselves. Following each Wednesday appearance is a chance for students and other attendees to get books signed by the authors.
The series has been running since March 16 and will continue to run until April 22, and has been drawing a fair amount of students to the events.
So far, George Saunders, author of “Tenth of December,” Mary Szybist, author of “Incarnadine” and Kate Christensen, author of “The Great Man,” have visited the campus.
Saunders brought in the biggest group, drawing both undergraduate and graduate students to the appearance, according to Blackwell.
David Bajo, author of “Mercy 6” and MFA director of the creative writing department, will present on Wednesday; Teju Cole, author of “Open City,” will speak on April 15 and Chang-rae Lee, author of “On Such a Full Sea,” will round out the showcase with the final presentation on April 22.
Blackwell uses contacts, writers who are friends of friends, conference contacts or even cold-calls to authors to try to bring a wide selection of authors to the series.
With everything from comic short story writers to serious novelists included in the series, she seemed confident that the authors gave students a chance to see literature through a different lens.
“Writing is actually a living art form that is still living today and ... writers aren’t in coffins only,” she said. “They’re actually living, breathing people at work.”
As for who USC could expect at The Open Book in the future, Blackwell threw out a couple of big names in literary circles, including Paul Auster and Anthony Doerr.
“We’re forever trying to get Cormac McCarthy but he just doesn’t get out much,” she said.