Diversifying Eastern writers

"Diversity within Diversity," an essay/poetry writing contest, is currently accepting submissions. The due date is April 4, 2008. Entries can be delivered to the Writers' Center in PUB 354, or submitted via e-mail at writers.center@mail.ewu.edu.

Essays can be a maximum of 2,000 words, and should be double-spaced and written with 12-point font. Poems can be a maximum of two pages with the same specifications.

"An essay is always non-fiction in nature," said Dani Ringwald, one of the Writers' Center Responders. "There are all types of essays: personal, argumentative, descriptive, cause and effect, compare and contrast, division and classification, and we welcome all approaches," said Ringwald.

"This contest is also open to the various forms that poetry provides," said Ringwald. "For inspiration, students might want to look up Martin Espada's poetry, or stop by the Center and take a look at the bulletin board we've created to celebrate his work."

Winners of the contest will have an opportunity to read their work at a community reading on May 30th alongside award-winning poet and essayist Martin Espada, as well as receiving a $100 gift card for Eastern's bookstore. Also, the winning submissions will be published in an anthology.

"We invited Martin Espada, 'the Latino poet of his generation,' to come to EWU as our guest speaker because of his dedication to using writing as a tool for democracy which fit exactly with our intention for this diversity project," said Ringwald.

"All of the winning authors will be invited to read at the public community reading in Showalter Hall the evening of May 30th," said Ringwald.

"Martin Espada will be reading some of his poetry. Also, in the afternoon, the Writers' Center will host Espada as he offers a lecture on Pablo Neruda and writing as a way to promote social justice."

Ringwald said that one of the goals for this contest is to offer students an opportunity to voice their thoughts and concerns, share their experiences, and celebrate their personal understanding of diversity through writing.

According to Ringwald, the 15 winning entries will be decided by a panel of judges made up of EWU faculty/staff who have shown an interest in supporting the diversity project. "We hope to gather a collection of academic essays, personal essays, and poetry that highlight the wide range of diversity reflected in our student body," said Ringwald.

Writers are allowed to submit multiple entries. "We did not put a limit to the number of entries each person can submit, however, we are encouraging quality over quantity," said Ringwald.

An anthology of the winning entries will be published. "Also, it's important to note that we are looking for graphics art for the cover," said Ringwald. "We are holding an art contest."

The title "Diversity within Diversity" is a theme for the contest. "We are hoping to discover what students have to say about various cultural experiences related to race, ethnicity, gender, age, socio-economic/class, religion, spirituality, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical characteristics and abilities, and/or nationality," said Ringwald. "We left this topic open-ended so that students could approach the word diversity on their own terms."

"One of the things we have enjoyed, so far, about this contest is the collaboration between programs and departments that have supported us such as the Division of International and Educational Outreach, the Inland Northwest Center for Writers, Eastern Advantage, The Easterner, and KEWU, our campus radio station," said Ringwald.

Students can visit www.ewu.edu/writerscenter for guidelines and the submission form.