Starting this semester, David Hansen, a creative writing professor at the University, has been hosting a weekly workshop for writers called the Writer’s Lounge. This event takes place every Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Humanities Center Lounge (Rush Rhees 202, past the glass doors of the Digital Scholarship Lab). Open to all students regardless of major or writing level, the Lounge provides a space for students to work on any writing project, whether it’s a research paper for a physics class or a short narrative for a fiction class. Students may also use the space to study for their classes or just hang out with friends.
The Lounge itself has a calm and productive atmosphere, featuring comfortable seating, inspiring architecture, unique art pieces, and lo-fi music playing in the background. To top it off, Hansen provides free pizza and soda at every meeting. Amidst Peruvian artifacts, the agora hosts passionate writers working on their projects while being surrounded by fellow writers. In some kind similar to those writing groups of 18th century Germany, Young Goethes come together and just fuel their writing by knowing that they are not alone — a co-working space of the fine art. The silent noises of keyboards and clicking pens are part of the motivation of this writer’s lounge.
The writer’s lounge uncovered:
I feel bad disturbing these concentrated faces by interviewing them but it feels good to hear them talk about their writing so passionately. They briefly lift up their headphones to tell me about their projects: a comic depicting Samantha Steiner’s way to becoming an author, to students who attend the writer’s lounge the first time, hoping for qualitative feedback on their poetry and a space to feel safe while working on writing projects.
Anna: David, what is the purpose of this writer’s lounge and why did you decide to open up this space for student writers?
David: First of all, it used to exist before the pandemic and the pandemic kind of killed it. I wanted to revive it because I think it is something that I would’ve wanted when I was an undergraduate writer. It didn’t exist and we [writers] had to find each other to work together. There was no sense of fellowship or awareness that there were other people on campus who are also doing this work. We were all on our own working on our things unless we happened to have a class together. And that is too bad. Writing is a solitary activity. Writers are very often very solitary people — that’s fine, but I think we also need some company from time to time. Even when we’re not talking about writing. It is important for people who write for fun, and it is deeper than fun. It is important for us to see each other and knowing that one is not alone. I then composed it to my department and they approved it. Let’s see what happens.
And you can see that this opportunity is used by a lot of writers. The room is filled with people and you can literally feel that they are there to write on their projects which they feel so passionately about.
David: People wanted it and some are coming here for two years. I am able to talk to people who are not my students about their writing and to talk with people who are not in the humanities about their writing.
Anna: What do you take from this experience of the writer’s lounge?
David: I love to talk about writing. I am doing it for free and I would pay to do it. It is fun and interesting. And I also like the feeling of being helpful to other writers. I’ve become fond of some people who come here. It is different from teaching a class. The relationship is different. The power dynamic is much more equal than in a classroom setting and I like that. Providing a habitat for writers is satisfying. It is so satisfying when students come here to exchange their ideas with other students and writers and with me.
