Friendly City Reading Series

Today, the Friendly City Reading Series visited JMU and I was lucky to attend. It was a public reading and conversation with novelist Mary Beth Keane and nonfiction writer Gina Welch. The event is used to provide a friendly forum for a variety of writers and/or students to come together and discuss all types of literature and writing.

Keane, author of The Walking People, currently teaches at Barnard College. Her book is a tale of immigration that follows a family from a tiny village near Galway to the Manhattan.

Welch, author of In the Land Of Believers, teaches at George Washington University. Her memoir is about the complicated nature of religion as she journeys into the Evangelical church.

While the authors, on the surface, seem to have nothing in common, they share many similarities. Both authors share similar training, regional history, occupations and experience with publication.

Keane and Welch both read excerpts from their books, occasionally stopping to elaborate on topics that the audience may be unfamiliar with. Immediately after, a discussion between the authors and the audience took place. The women touched upon research and writing processes, the teaching of writing, and the world of publishing.

The Friendly City Reading Series was interesting to me, since I had never been to anything like it before. I was able to learn more about two writers, both with experiences that I'm unfamiliar with. This discussion session was informative and opened my eyes to the variety of writers that exist.