Hope and Memory: A Reflection from Ethan Joella's Writers' Series
By Mae Fraser
"Thank god I have stories," Salem State University graduate student Brooke Delp commented while answering an audience question. Her voice was confident, unwavering as she talked about her work-in-progress memoir - a piece of which she read during a SSU Writers Series event.
Delp, Managing Editor for the 2022 issue of Soundings East, graced the Recital Hall stage alongside Ethan Joella, author of the fiction novel, A Little Hope, on a chilly Thursday night in March. Her capstone, a memoir tentatively titled Point Your Toes, is a collection of multi-genre pieces ranging from flash fiction to poetry to interviews, cataloguing her experience as a dancer.
According to Delp, some things she wrote "were meant to be other things." Fiction became poetry, some memories became interviews, poetry became one-act screenplays. While a work in progress, she already knows what she wants it to be, and her work with capstone advisor and SSU faculty Kevin Carey has helped her discover the possibilities.
Carey, who acted as emcee during the Writers' Series event, reminisced about his graduate school days with Joella as he introduced him to the audience. It had been a long time since he'd seen him, and Carey was ecstatic to have him read that day. As Joella left, his wife and two daughters joined Carey on stage, and applause shook the hall.
Joella read from A Little Hope, a book of literary fiction about twelve people and their interconnected lives. It is a story of hope, grief, and relationships of all kinds. His words brought tears to the audience. The resounding applause - sandwiching the reading - graced the Recital Hall as the night came to a close.
The emotional and impactful readings from both of these authors made for a terrific night.