ERIE, Pa. — Strong storytelling is common in novels and larger pieces, but how does one tell a story if they’re not afforded so much space?
“When I am trying to tell a micro story, I focus on something very basic,” author and poet Doug Ramspeck wrote in a recent blog post. “Still, the challenge of ‘micro stories’ is to make sure they don’t feel slight. How do you give them the heft and significance of novels or films or even a traditional-length story? The answer, of course, is to summarize, to move quickly, to bring in different elements.”
Ramspeck will read examples of his own ‘micro stories’ along with his poetry on Thursday, Sept. 26, when he visits Penn State Behrend as part of the college’s Creative Writers Reading Series. His 6 p.m. reading and the reception preceding it are free and open to the public. Both events will be held in the Metzgar Center lobby.
“Doug Ramspeck is a writer with a keen eye, a love of the natural world, and a passion for discovering and remaking language used to express this love,” said George Looney, distinguished professor of English and creative writing.
Ramspeck’s latest poetry collection, “Black Flowers,” was a finalist for the 2019 UNT Rilke Prize. He also is the author of five other poetry collections and the short story collection, “The Owl That Carries Us Away,” the winner of the 2016 G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction.
Ramspeck is a two-time recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, a finalist for the UNT Rilke Prize, and the winner of the McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction. He currently teaches literature and creative writing at the Ohio State University at Lima.
The Creative Writers Reading Series is produced by Penn State Behrend’s B.F.A. in Creative Writing degree program with support from the Clarence A. and Eugenie Baumann Smith Fund. For additional information, call 814-898-6108 or visit https://behrend.psu.edu/readings.