The TCU English department is hoping to inspire creativity and thoughtful dialogue through their annual Live Oak Reading series. “One major goal of bringing in these visitors is to give TCU students as many perspectives of writing as possible, and give them a sense of the rigors, and the pleasures, of making art,” assistant professor of English Matthew Pitt said. “As a professor, it’s so gratifying to have students walk out of the event inspired by what they’ve heard, and eager to make art of their own.” The series runs from February to April and includes such authors as Peter Turchi, Sidney Thompson and John Patrick Bray. The first author of the season shared his tips and tricks on how to become a successful writer at the annual Live Oak Reading series Feb. 21.  “It was eye-opening for me when he said maps offer a different point of view of life,” senior George Maalouf said. Peter Turchi is a six-time author and co-editor of three books. “The Houston Chronicle singled him out as ‘One of the country’s foremost thinkers on the art of writing,’” assistant professor of English Matthew Pitt said. Turchi has not only found profit in writing but also in connecting writing to maps and puzzles. Turchi said it is important to imagine the world from a mapmaker’s viewpoint because it will allow you “to imagine fully, to inhabit the space and the place and not just know the part that you’re writing or the part of it that you put on the page.”

Turchi made connections between writing and maps such as the United States relief map and Treasure Island map. “If you’re trying to create something new, what you’re trying to do is get yourself away from the way something is already being seen, the way it has already been assembled, the way it has already been presented, and find some new avenue,” Turchi said. The Live Oak Reading series is a series of readings that help foster a community focused on intellectual creativity.  The second Live Oak Reading is March 21. Visit the AddRan College of Liberal Arts calendar for more information.