To be a writer is to be a witness to your own imagination, to be possessed by the capabilities that lie within until stirred by a musing that must be expressed. To be the audience for such a moment is to enter into an intimate space with the writer and with the history of all the words they invoke. This sacred relationship is one that has constructed the vast expanse of human history. In Ithaca on April 23 through 25, I witnessed this intimacy develop and expand during the Ithaca New Voices Festival.
It was just about 5:30 p.m. on April 23 at Buffalo Street Books. I had entered the store some time ago and was immediately impressed by the crowd. Ithaca College student volunteers, in distinct purple shirts, helped direct and inform the passersby, as well as myself. Purple shirts moved throughout the store, along with an excited hum. As the event was about to start, I noticed that all of the chairs had been filled and even more people lined the walls of the room, smiling and chatting. Professor Chris Holmes of Ithaca College gave a short introduction to the impressive crowd of this 13th annual festival. He expressed how the authors are an “incredible group of writers” and that he helped found this event thirteen years ago as something that could bring the college and the town closer together. He also emphasized that “this is no ordinary time to celebrate literature. … When words stop meaning what they’re meant to mean, we’re in trouble.”
In order, speakers included Ananda Lima, Jamaica Baldwin, Puloma Ghosh, Anna Shechtman, Hannah Louise Poston, Jinwoo Chong and Jake Brasch. They came up, one by one, after an introduction from an Ithaca College student, and had seven minutes to read some of their work. It was all excellent — I recommend all of their writing. It is of particular interest to point out that Anna Shechtman, one of the festival writers, is a Cornell professor and a crossword puzzle writer — how cool! She was fascinating to speak with, as was another Cornell professor in attendance, Professor Alexandra Kleeman. Professor Kleeman told me the following about the event: “There are so few chances for communities from Cornell and Ithaca College to come together — the institutions are on two separate and quite steep hills. But New Voices is the rare place where closing that distance is made effortless and fun, it's easy to drop by and to see a diverse exciting group of authors in a setting that is more informal and relaxed.” She also emphasized that she wished she saw more of a Cornell presence at the event — and I concur. Kleeman also shared that “the unabashed enthusiasm and enjoyment of literature is always on display at New Voices. I think it's a great reminder that literature serves a social function too, bringing people together and providing a common ground for discussion and conversation. It's not only the stuff of dry analysis and study, as the classroom sometimes makes us feel!”
I walked out of that first event with a tote bag from Lima and a skip in my step. To see the liveliness of the literary scene in Ithaca, and amongst both Ithaca College and Cornell University students and faculty, was assuring. I eagerly returned for two events on the 25th.
The first event took place at the Park Center, in Room 111, where students gathered in anticipation. The topic of this event was “Can We Go Home Now?: Identity, Self, and Place” which set the stage for an event characterized by an intimate back-and-forth. I recall one of the writers, Chong, made some striking remarks: “I can’t write unless I am home. … I’m sad when I’m not writing.” After this was the event titled “Let’s Talk About Text, Baby: Playing with Language and Form.” I sat attentively and listened as the overcrowded room engaged with the conversations at hand. Poston said, “my relationship with language was musical” and recalled a quote by Robert Frost, explaining that “a poem just has to have the sound of sense, it doesn’t have to make sense.” The authors present discussed a desire to break free from tradition and create a new canon, one which would allow them to be able to find themselves and truly embrace their diverse identities. They gave advice to the audience after a student asked how to find a word for a poem that both sounds beautiful and means what they want. Baldwin said “keeping a word book” helps her, while Poston mentioned her own “shameless use of the thesaurus.”
Over the three days of the festival, these voices were heard loud and clear. Literature was practiced, performed and praised. At the beginning of the festival, Professor Holmes expressed his excitement over the audience getting “to know [their] new favorite author” and I shared this sentiment after hearing the writing that was shared. The event occurs annually so make sure to attend the next one — I promise, you won’t regret it.
Caidan Pilarski is a senior in the college of Arts & Sciences. He can be contacted at cpilarski@cornellsun.com.
