Final Next Words Reading at REDCAT on Thursday

Book cover for ‘At Both Ends.’ | Designer: Aamina Ganser

by Leann Lo, MFA-1 student in CalArts’ Creative Writing Program

On Thursday (May 12), the CalArts School of Critical Studies hosts the annual Writers Showcase at Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), the culmination of the Next Words reading series. During the showcase, the 2016 graduates of the Creative Writing program at CalArts read short excerpts from their theses.

This year’s graduates/readers are: Leah Clancy, Jasmine Stein, Andrew Stone, Benjamin Sneyd, Jacqueline Young, Lauren Schmidt, Leah Clancy, Natalie Raymond, Rebecca Ann Jordan, Tim Reid, Rocket Caleshu, Jonathan Goodnick, Quinn Gancedo and Matthew Polzin.

The student-run series, Next Words, features MFA candidates reading in small groups for a more intimate reading of their works during their last semester. These readings take place in various venues throughout LA.

The student coordinators for the Next Words reading series, Leah Clancy, Quinn, Gancedo and Rocket Caleshu, are also compiling the accompanying anthology of the graduating students’ works, titled At Both Ends.

Excerpt from Rebecca Anne Jordan’s thesis, Ambitious Bones:

And in a year between apocalypses, my brother takes me to an aspen forest. Now it only looks like fire, the yellow leaves making no sound at all, with no memory yet of the crackling that’s to come. I say, “I have the ankles of a baby deer,” after my brother fails to catch my tumble. We will have a good laugh later. Later, his voice will hang in the air the way that ghosts are: When you’re here, do you want to hike the lava? I can’t, I’ll say, I have the ankles of a fawn. By that time I will have spotted. I’ll have an inkling of the mushroom growing behind my ear, the incurable growth I’m now ignoring, but this will be much later, on an apocalypse year.

Copies of the anthology will be available at the event.