On Oct. 7, the president of the Tyler Literary Society, Estelle Rogers gave the details as to what the club is, as well as how it executes its goal of establishing a community of collaborative creative minds.
“I would say that it’s very important to me to try and help each member to be inspired and find their unique writer’s voice,” said Rogers.
Revived in 2022, the society today works on encouraging aspiring writers to socially meet, share their ideas on individual pieces of their own literature, and support one another by giving both positive comments and unharmful constructive criticism.
An ongoing way that the student organization creates such an environment is for the members to agree to a weekly writing prompt, be it a short story, poetry, a novel and so on, with each member having the option to share what they have.
Should they decide to share, the members listening will afterwards share their own thoughts and opinions of each piece and give the creators information that they think and believe will assist their fellow club member to succeed better as a writer.
The president herself, a student at Bucks since she was 20, is very proactive in making writers of all kinds feel welcomed and valued in such programs.
The club is not, however, against accepting from more experienced outside sources other than themselves, as they also welcome literary professionals to listen in and pitch their own ideas and advice to the group meetings.
Two of these more prominent guests are Ethel Rackin and Alan Rubin, both of whom are professors here at Bucks.
For the society’s plans to further contribute to Bucks, two plans are in the president’s mind, both short term and long term.
Rogers announced that the organization is hosting a Halloween costume contest on Oct. 28 at 12:30 p.m., where members and non-members enter as the most obscure characters imaginable, but not without proper hints and context.
“If you win the prize at the end for being the most obscure character, you need to give an explanation and description of your character, explaining why this character’s important to you and how you want more people to know about this character,” said Rogers.
As for more long-term plans, Rogers hopes to one day have the society come to at least one senior living community, such as Chandler Hall Health Services, bringing and sharing their creative-writing activities with the elderly.
“We could read poetry or excerpts from stories, and we could have somewhat of a tea party,” said Rogers.
So, for anyone who wishes to thrive in and follow their passions for the literature world in accepting, diverse and friendly company, know that such a place exists within Bucks at the Tyler Literary Society.