Parks Library’s Monday Monologues series will be presenting poet Kartika Budhwar 12:15-12:45 p.m. Monday in the Grant Wood Foyer of Parks Library.

Budhwar, a graduate student in English, recently won second place for her piece in the Blue Mesa Review Nonfiction Contest, and now, she is taking her prose to Parks Library to read for those who attend today’s Monday Monologue.

Susan Gent, community engagement specialist for Parks Library and creator of Monday Monologues, shared her vision for the series and how it has come to life.

While interviewing for her position at Parks Library, she decided she wanted to do more with the Grant Wood Foyer.

“I came in this space, and I thought it was really neat and a little underutilized — it’s more of a hallway — and it has great acoustics,” Gent said. “My inspiration was to have some kind of spoken word or performance-based short, fun entertainment throughout the semester.”

Monday Monologues was born in the fall of 2018 to entertain students in the library during their lunch time.

“We do it over the lunch hour, thinking that it’s just short and fun, and hopefully, people have that hour off,” Gent said. “A lot of people come to the cafe anyway, so people can grab food and come on in.”

Gent has worked with various people and departments across campus to find performers with different talents involved in theater and other forms of fine arts.

Monday Monologues typically has anywhere from 25 to 80 attendees at each performance. Gent believes it offers a great opportunity for students to try something new.

“If you haven’t heard an a capella group, you would get to hear that [at Monday Monologues],” said Gent. “If you thought ‘Oh, I don’t know, if I want to go see that play because it costs $8,’ then you can come get a taste of it, and when you see how awesome it is in person, then it’s inspiring to get people to go see the full show.”

Gent said she’s looking for students to connect with her that have performance ideas for Monday Monologues in the future.

“If anyone has something that they would like to contribute, I would love to connect with them,” said Gent. “I will start planning for fall in late summer, and I don’t know what those topics are going to be until I make those connections.”