Editor’s Note: Campus Findings is a weekly column about things on campus that trigger the curiosity of the Iowa State community. Carrie Sutton, junior in journalism and mass communication, will investigate the inquires each week and post her findings. Submit inquires to [email protected].

Creative writers are welcoming The Writers’ Bloc to Iowa State — the organization, that is, not the stumped feeling.

The Writers’ Bloc is an “umbrella” to three ISU literary activities: Sketch, knotgrass and Word Up!, said Debra Marquart, faculty adviser for The Writers’ Bloc and assistant professor of English.

She said the three activities were previously “on their own” and were not having much success.

The Writers’ Bloc was created to provide a place for creative writers from all disciplines to display their work and to umbrella the three activities to apply for Government of the Student Body funding as one unit.

“There are a lot of creative people on campus,” she said. “[The Writers’ Bloc] helps them reach out and ban together.”

Marquart said the three activities’ organizers meet separately, but about four times a year, the 30 members of The Writers’ Bloc hold meetings to plan its future. She said The Writers’ Bloc would like more people to join the organization for brainstorming purposes.

“We’re open to all ideas,” Marquart said.

She said The Writers’ Bloc may bring in another guest speaker next semester to follow its invitation to Gary Soto, a nationally known poet, who spoke at the Memorial Union earlier this month.

Marquart said Sketch has been published on and off since 1934. She said students submit their work, which ranges from art to poems, and their work goes through an editing process before publication. She said the deadline for students submitting work was Monday, but the deadline may be extended.

Marquart said students who submit their work to be published acquire new ideas about how to approach their writing, and they get to witness the publishing process.

“It’s a good experience,” she said.

Ander Monson, editor in chief of Sketch and editor of knotgrass, agreed that submitting work is beneficial to students, even if they don’t get published.

“It provides a way for writers and artists to get involved in the publishing world and can provide an important experience in developing creatively and professionally,” said Monson, graduate student in English and creative writing.

Marquart said Sketch normally is published once a year, but this year, two issues will be published.

Monson said Sketch will publish both issues during the spring semester this year. Its first issue will be published during the first three weeks, and the second issue will be published at the end of the semester.

Marquart said getting published in Sketch is a time-honored tradition.

“You become part of a record. In 10 to 20 years, you can come back and see your work,” Marquart said. “You become a part of the history of Iowa State.”

Marquart said knotgrass is an online literary journal and is similar to Sketch in that people submit their creative work. It was started a year-and-a-half ago through a $600 focus grant in connection with the Lectures Program.

“It’s a beautiful journal,” she said.

Monson said knotgrass was published three weeks ago. He said there is no concrete publication schedule for knotgrass, but an issue may be published at the end of this semester.

Monson said he has been with The Writers’ Bloc since its inception at the beginning of last year, and he has been part of Sketch since its reorganization at the end of last year.

“It’s important to me to get involved in organizations that foster an artistic and creative community, so I took the chance when I saw it offered,” Monson said about his involvement with The Writers’ Bloc

Marquart said Word Up!, which has been at ISU for 10 years, is a series of spoken open-mic sessions. Melanie Fox, the secretary for Word Up! and graduate student in English, said anyone is welcome to read his or her creative work.

“We welcome any format — poetry, fiction, non-fiction — and this is open to all students, faculty and other Ames residents,” Fox said.

Fox said the second Word Up! session of this semester will be held Sunday at 7 p.m. at Boheme Bistro International, 2900 West St. She said anyone wishing to read his or her work is asked to sign up early at 6:30 p.m.

“This gives us time to have them fill out an information sheet about who they are, what they do and what they will be reading,” she said.

Fox said the third Word Up! session will be held Dec. 4 in Ross Hall Room 212 and will showcase creative writing concerning the extremes of Iowa weather.

Marquart said sometimes the three Writers’ Bloc activities “work in conjunction” because some people may read the work they published in Sketch or knotgrass at a Word Up! event.

“You get to hear [your work] read. You don’t know it’s good until you hear a reaction,” she said.

Marquart said she enjoys it when non-English majors, who do not know the people at the Word Up! functions, get up and read their work.

“It’s easy to get blocked in your major — in your own building,” she said. “You get to mix and share ideas from different disciplines.”

Monson agreed that it’s beneficial to have a diverse representation of students.

“I’d like to see more non-English department folks interested in working to form a community for creative writers and other artists,” he said.

Marquart said The Writers’ Bloc would like to receive more work from majors other than English. She said English majors know the submittal deadlines, which explains why there is more work submitted from them, but she said the three activities want more of an “all-ISU representation.”

“It’s really exciting when we get poems from microbiology or mathematics majors,” she said. “We get a richer pool of work, we think.”

Marquart said the publications want artwork as well as written work.

In order to get artwork in knotgrass, Marquart said some knotgrass editors went to the Gallery Room in the Memorial Union and wrote down artists’ names and asked if they could put their work in the journal.

“It’s important to the development of writers and other artists to work in a community — art is social, not purely individual — and The Writers’ Bloc, knotgrass and Sketch are all chances to get a hand in this development,” Monson said.