With the support of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation, Murphy Scholar and English-Creative Writing major Samantha Broussard ’24 was able to explore her passion for writing though an opportunity to attend one of the most important conferences for those interested in literary careers related to writing, editing, publishing, or teaching.
In March 2023, Broussard and other Hendrix students flew to Seattle, Washington to attend the Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference (AWP), an annual event for writers, teachers, students, editors, and publishers of contemporary creative writing. The four-day conference hosts thousands of attendees and hundreds of events and bookfair exhibitors.. Exhibitors included small presses, large publishing houses, literary journals, nonprofits, and graduate writing programs, among others. “I was in awe. I don’t think I have ever seen so many writers and books in one space,” Broussard said.
Broussard’s attendance at AWP gave her an opportunity to meet with industry experts; connect with faculty from potential graduate programs; participate in variety of panels on writing, reading, publishing, and pedagogy; and attend readings.
Broussard’s favorite panel was “Writing the Body as Landscape: How We See and Imagine Ourselves as Wilderness.” This panel’s participants discussed ways to deepen understandings of landscape through language and what it means to write against a backdrop of climate crisis, issues of land ownership, historical and racial controversies, and overcrowding.
“My experience at this conference gave me insight into how I write nonfiction. I can now better approach my ideas of the past and lean into that uncertainty,” Broussard said.
This fall she will pursue an MFA in creative writing at the University of New Orleans.