Pageturners recently wrapped up their 11th annual Writing and Art Awards contest. Two participants were chosen as the winners for their talent and creativity: Sierra Messer won the writing award with a written piece inspired from Mona Hanna-Attisha’s “What The Eyes Don’t See,” and Miki Taguchi won the art award for a piece inspired by Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep.”
Messer and Taguchi were both awarded $250 and their work will be displayed on the Pageturners website to showcase the effort and talent put into their submissions. The Pageturners Writing and Art Awards competition began in September 2019 and concluded March 30 with a multitude of submissions.
Every year, a different set of books are chosen for students to draw inspiration and base their submissions upon. This past year’s fall semester reading selections were “Rabbit Hole” by David Lindsay-Abaire, “Master Harold”…and the Boys” by Athol Fugard, “SEPARATE: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation” by Steve Luxenberg and “I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir” by Malaka Gharib.
The goal of the Pageturners book club is to inspire students to express their thoughts on literature through work of their own in the form of either art or essays. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit for potential applicants. Any themes and concepts the chosen literature touches on is fair game for use. Passionate artists or writers are urged to express what inspires them within the pages. Artistic submissions can come in the form of drawings, paintings, sculptures, collages, woodcuts and dioramas. Meanwhile, written submissions can cover various themes and concepts found within the texts and should be 2000 words in length.
By sharing these creations, the participants and Pageturners hope to inspire more students to take part in an event where they can broaden their horizons by reading something they might not otherwise have.
Pageturners will continue to inspire students to express themselves through creative outlets and encourage the love of literature. The club is open to all students, faculty, staff, administrators and community friends and is supported by a grant from the Schoolcraft College Foundation.
All Pageturners events are free and open to the public.
For more information on future Pageturner events and meetings, please contact Ela Rybicka at [email protected] or call 734-462-7191.