The writing seminars department sponsored a discussion and reading by Hopkins faculty authors Alice McDermott and John Irwin on Tuesday.
Hundreds of students, faculty members and staff gathered in Mudd Hall to listen to both authors examine their favorite passages from both old and new works.
"It's a tradition at Hopkins for writers to give back," said McDermott, noting that both she and Irwin had collaborated to present their shared works to a larger audience and Hopkins students.
"Well, we thought fiction and poetry would be a nice combination," said McDermott.
McDermott read passages from some of her older works, as well as from her most recent novel, Child of My Heart.
"Overall, I thought her reading was both powerful and insightful," said sophomore Chris Johns. "She takes the ordinary and somehow makes it both witty and unforgettable."
Irwin, a professor in humanities and writing seminars, also read his own pieces of writing.
Irwin, who often writes under the pen name John Bricuth, shared some of his favorite poems from his collections of poetry, The Heisenberg Variations and Just Let Me Say This About That.
"It was nice to have the juxtaposition of both the humor and complexities of Alice McDermott's writing and the cynical undertones of Irwin's poetry," said sophomore Emma Essock-Burns.
Several students were impressed with the entire event.
"I was really excited for the event," said Essock-Burns. "It's a really good way for us to see and hear the works that our own teachers are writing."
McDermott is a writer and professor in the writing seminars department at Hopkins. She is the author of The Bigamist's Daughter, That Night, At Weddings and Wakes and Charming Billy.
Her book That Night was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award, the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. At Weddings and Wakes was another finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1998, McDermott won the National Book award for Charming Billy, the story of an Irish Catholic family in Queens, New York.
McDermott has also written nonfiction pieces for both The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Her most recent book, Child of My Heart, shows a young girl's insight the complexities of human nature and her own personal struggles with her life.
Irwin is a Decker Professor in the Humanities at Hopkins. Formerly chairman of the writing seminars department, professor Irwin now teaches full time and writes.
He is also the author of Doubling and Incest/Repetition and Revenge, American Hieroglyphics, and The Mystery to a Solution: Poe, Borges, and the Analytic Detective Story.
He is also an editor for the Johns Hopkins University Press Fiction and Poetry Series and previously won the Christian Gauss Prize and the Scaglione Prize for his book, The Mystery to a Solution.
