Sunset Press hosts open mic featuring chapbook writers
“Those who had the pleasure of attending Sunset Press’s open mic on Friday night at the Horn Gallery were given an array of performances that showcased many talented writers. Sunset Press is a student-run literary publication that selects writers each year from the student body to publish. The process takes a year to complete, as writers’ pieces are workshopped before they’re published in chapbooks in the spring. I was fortunate enough to listen to some of the pieces that the writers of 2022-23 have been working so hard on. During the open mic night, those who were not part of Sunset Press were also given the opportunity to volunteer their own writing pieces and had the chance to read aloud personal selections. It was great being able to hear a variety of stories, prose and poems from so many aspiring writers.
Phoebe Houser ’24, who is one of Sunset’s writers for the year, read parts of her piece titled “Great Aunt Ginger,” which was split into two scenes. Houser read a small portion of the beginning of her story that detailed how a young girl deals with the complicated relationship between her and her aunt. Houser, in an interview with the Collegian, said she “tripped over [her] words” but then added, “that’s just me, that’s what I do.” Houser explained that her reading was very easy to digest, saying “you’re supposed to read within three minutes, so it was an easy piece to have a natural cutoff point.” It was a pleasure being able to listen to Houser get vulnerable with the audience, and it was moving to hear her speak life into the story that she has been working on since September. “
