What is Literary Citizenship?

Writer and professor Cathy Day, the leading voice in ongoing conversations about literary citizenship, says that most of those who love language and literature enough to become writers also exhibit a real

“desire to be a part of a literary community.“

As aspiring writers in Monmouth College’s Spring 2014 ENG 310, we’re coming to understand that we need to do more than just write or hope to get published, but in Day’s words we have to

“work to create a world in which literature can thrive and is valued.“

Drawing on the whole conversation that Day and others are having, we think for writers and readers at Monmouth College literary citizenship means:

The literary community is a network of people who actively and openly read and write. To engage in literary citizenship is to be a part of this community, which involves the crucial acts of buying, reading, reviewing, and promoting books in order to support aspiring and professional writers, as well as encouraging a reading culture.

To help encourage people to be part of this community, we’ve collected 13 Ways of Being a Literary Citizen.

We want to direct you to the many fabulous resources already available at Monmouth College.

And we’ve identified ways to help the future of Literary Citizenship at Monmouth look even stronger.

   Are you a student at Monmouth College, or a member of the Monmouth community, looking to become a more engaged literary citizen? At Monmouth, there are several options for writers and readers who wish to become better, more engaged, literary citizens.  

Creative Writing Courses: For students who wish to improve their writing and challenge themselves with new genres of writing, or simply gain appreciation for the type of work that goes into writing well, Monmouth College offers two creative writing courses:

ENGL 210: Intro to Creative Writing

In this course, students aim to develop reflective habits of reading and writing that will aid them in becoming more accomplished writers of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction.  In addition to sharpening their writing skills, students learn how to support and critique their peers and other writers.  By the end of the term, students develop awareness of effective creative writing and of their own strengths and weaknesses as a writer in all three genres, as they produce a portfolio that provides evidence of their growth as writers.

ENGL 310: Advanced Creative Writing

An extension of Intro to Creative Writing, students in Advanced Creative Writing are given the opportunity to develop their capacities as reflective readers, considering what it means to read as a writer. Writers generate, draft and polish an extended piece of collection of prose, poetry or drama. The goals is to also become more careful readers of their peers’ work, offering constructive feedback in a workshop format  and to begin to understand and enter into the larger public life of creative writing by means of exposure to publishing outlets, editorial projects, attending public readings and submitting selected work for possible publication, and ultimately, to consider their roles as literary citizens. 

Coil 

For students interested in publishing their writing, Coil is a creative arts magazine that is published annually by the students of Monmouth College.  Students and faculty of the college may submit works of original literary or visual art, which are reviewed and chosen by a student editorial staff.  The publication is distributed each spring.

Annual Reading Series During the 2013-2014 academic school year at Monmouth College, we were lucky enough to have a record breaking number of visiting writers come to campus and read their work as a part of our readers’ series.

• Eric Rohman
• Candace Fleming
• Ted Sanders
• Matthew Minicucci
• Jensen Beach
• Erin Keane
• Robert Hellenga
• David McGlynn
• Tania Runyan
• Marci Rae Johnson

These readings are open to the public, and are promoted on the college website, social media pages affiliated with the college (Facebook, Twitter) and bulletin boards all over campus.

Countless acts of literary citizenship are already listed here, here, here, and here. But here are our top thirteen ways of being a literary citizen:

1) Social Media: Follow #litcitizen posts on Twitter and work to promote the work of writers you enjoy on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. Rule of thumb: for each time you talk about your own writing, mention someone else’s work five times. A great example is fiction writer Kyle Minor who used a great review in the NYTimes Book Review as a chance to mention other writers he admires.

2) Spread the word: Share publications and articles that might interest others and make them involved with literary events. This world is full of information and facilitating good quality articles is a good way to stay informed and help others stay informed as well.

3)Support the writers: The most obvious way of supporting is buying. Try buying at independent stores around your neighborhood. A subscription to a magazine or literary journal is always an option to keep yourself engaged and supportive of the literary community. These are two web pages suggested by Sambuchino to find the store closest to you: Indie.org  and Powells. He also suggests the program by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses for those professors and students who want to incorporate magazines in their courses.

4) Books: Don’t just buy them. Turn the individual reading process into a social process by sharing what you think. Talk to your friends about what you are reading. Even if they are not the most book friendly people, whenever they feel like reading a book, they will come back to you for recommendations. Use any of the ideas triggered by a book in your conversations. This will make people (and even yourself) realize the value of reading.

5) Get caught!: (Reading) Take your books and go read at the park, at the bus stop, at the train station, and (why not?) at the bar. Let people know that reading remains a commonly enjoyable pursuit.

6) Attend literary events: The more events you attend, the more you will learn about your own reading taste, in addition to meeting new people that share the same interests as you do.

7) Build your own literary network and help others, too: Introduce a friend to another friend with similar literary interests. Invite your friends to literary events you think might interest them. Keep inviting your friends even if they don’t go at first. They will show up one day and even bring their own friend.

8) Stick to those you trust: Here are ways of finding a writing group. With time you will learn who it is you like to work with. Keep them close to you as reading and writing advisors who share and review work with you. They will be familiar with your style and your projects and will serve as excellent reviewers and proofreaders.

9) Don’t forget the future: Don’t underestimate the power of reading to kids. Frequently, reading habits are learned when parents read to their children routinely. If you have little ones in your family, sharing a fun book with them could be the key to instill curiosity for reading in them.

10) Share the love: Did you like the last book you read? Did it change your perspective of life in some way? Were you impressed by the writing style? Then say it. Let the author know that you appreciate their work by an email or a letter. Even if you don’t get an answer, writers will always be moved by honest and smart responses to their work.

11) Create a blog: Blogging is a great way to let the world know what you have to say. Write book reviews, post about recent authors, give a space for people to comment on the books they have read and for local authors to promote their work.

12) Join a book club: A book club is the perfect way to keep yourself engaged in active reading, and helps to promote and organize social literary events.

13) Volunteer work: Involve your community in the reinforcement of a reading and writing culture. Start your own book club, read to the kids in the library, work with the library to organize events for local authors, donate your old books to people who would appreciate them or proofread others’ drafts.

Any other idea or response on how to be a literary citizen? Let us know with a comment!

Speakers!

This year we have had ten different writers on campus

• Eric Rohman
• Candace Fleming
• Ted Sanders
• Matthew Minicucci
• Jensen Beach
• Erin Keane
• Robert Hellenga
• David McGlynn
• Tania Runyan
• Marci Rae Johnson

This is a literary experience that should be continued and even expanded. In the future, it would be excellent to partner with different groups on campus. The English Department could work with Spectrum, Women’s Studies, or a number of different groups on campus to help bring excellent speakers and readers who  would appeal to each group.

Same Time, Same Place

As students and faculty at Monmouth are extremely busy, making time can be difficult. So, having literary events at the same time and possibly the same place each month would make it easier for people to not only make room, but simply to remember. This link would be excellent to use each month to figure out a theme or event to put on. 

“Eat, Drink, and be Literary”

This blog post is about the authors favorite bookstores and literary events. Some of these would be awesome to adapt to Monmouth. For example, the event “Eat, Drink, and be Literary,” is something that could be adapted at Monmouth. Or, we could have an event where literary folk share their favorite books and shops, essentially a review session.

Reading Marathon 

We already have an actual Faculty Poetry Reading each April. Another interesting idea for Monmouth is a poetry marathon. This is becoming more and more popular and can be done in many different ways. If the right author was selected, the project could be a huge success. Attached is a link that explains how this could work based on how it has been done at another school. 

There are a number of varying ideas within the community’s discussion of what it means to be a literary citizen, but here we’ve compiled several quotes which we believe best represent the concept.

Our own Advanced Creative Writing class has defined literary citizenship as the following:

The literary community is a network of people who actively and openly read and write. To engage in literary citizenship is to be a part of this community, which involves the crucial acts of buying, reading, reviewing, and promoting books in order to support aspiring and professional writers, as well as encouraging a reading culture.

Cathy Day has established some of the more widely known concepts of literary citizenship:

“A literary citizen is an aspiring writer who understands that you have to contribute to, not just expect things from, the publishing world.”

“Another way to think about Literary Citizenship: do we have an obligation to raise and address social issues in what we write?“

Bethanne Patrick’s Being a Good Literary Citizen: A Manifesto says:

“Anyone is a potential literary citizen and everyone who takes on the mantle of said citizenship should be interested in making sure excellent books of every kind continue to be available.”

Lori May considers the ecosystem of writers and our responsibility to tend it:

“Simply put, literary citizenship is a topical term for engaging in the community with the intent of giving as much as, if not more so, than we take. Our literary world is a social ecosystem that relies on others: readers, writers, editors, reviewers, publishers, booksellers, and so on. The writing and publishing world is one made of relationships. Writing itself may be a somewhat solitary activity, but once the story or poem is ‘done’ we rely on others to read, share, and publish our work. Yet there are so many levels of participation from others in this community.”

“Literary citizenship calls on our acts of giving, of giving back to the ecosystem so that we may actively ensure its sustainability.”

And Becky Tuch, in Salon, challenges the conversation and our rush to embrace literary citizenship as a term and idea:

“It’s just that in all this talk about what makes a good Literary Citizen, it seems we have missed a key step: critical reflection. Isn’t it important to ask why things are the way they are? The notion that the system ought to be challenged, that there is even a system within which all this is operating, is notably absent from discussions about being a good Literary Citizen.”