The English department along with the Greenspring Review staff will host a “Writers@Stevenson” event on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Rockland banquet hall.

Jane Lewty and Jacquelin Gorman are visiting professors and established writers who are both teaching several English courses at Stevenson this semester. Lewty specializes in poetry while Gorman is putting her memoirist background to use, teaching a creative writing workshop focusing on fiction.

Both writers have won major awards within the past few years for their work. In 2013, Gorman’s collection of stories titled “The Viewing Room” won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and in 2016 Lewty’s poetry collection, “In One Form to Find Another,” won the CSU Poetry Center Open Book Prize.

The award-winning and published writings of both Lewty and Gorman focus on the human body and trauma. Dr. Laura Smith, English department chair, said that she hoped these broader themes will interest and attract students from both science and language majors. Events such as this teach students about the featured writers while promoting the English department.

In addition to interesting and unique topics, classes taught by instructors with outside writing experience provide insight into real-world publishing and editing processes. Students in these classes recognize and appreciate this opportunity. Marcus Tucker, senior English major, said that Gorman’s upper-level creative writing course taught him that he can’t be sensitive about his work.

Learning from and interacting with prominent professional writers such as Lewty and Gorman allow students the opportunity to experience the art of publication and learn what employers look for in writing. This event hopes to teach students about writing in these forms and also prepare them for the job market.