NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

July 6, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

'ESSENCE OF EDITING' AND 'WRITING THE UNSAID' TOPICS OF DISCUSSION AT JEFFERSON PARISH LIBRARY'S JULY WRITERS' CLINIC

JEFFERSON, LA – Local authors and educators Erica Welter and Stacy Balkun will be featured in the July Saturday Writers’ Clinic beginning at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, July 15, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie.

This event is free of charge and open to the public. There is no registration. 

9:30 a.m., Saturday, July 15

Erica Welter – “The Essence of Editing”

According to Erica Welter, “editing is an essential part of the writing process. Quality editing refines a manuscript to ensure the writer’s voice is clear, coherent, and effective. Poor editing may result in a weak, muddled narrative, which wastes the time and energy of both readers and writers.” In this session, Welter will present the most common errors made during the editing process so writers can learn to edit more effectively.  

Erica Welter holds a master’s degree in English with a concentration in Publishing from Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond. She is an author, a professional editor, and a college English tutor. She is the former executive editor of Southeastern’s scholarly journal, The Pick, and her poetry appears in Across the Margin and the Manchac Review. She is editing her debut novel.

11 a.m., Saturday, July 15

Stacey Balkun– “Reflections & Omissions: Writing With the Unsaid”

“In a field, I am the absence of field,” writes Mark Strand, reminding us that not all absence is nothingness. As an instrument must have a resonating chamber in order to sing, texts too depend on empty space. This craft talk will focus on what can be found in the white space of a text: how can omissions render a new narrative? How can reflection and recursion pronounce and echo? Turning to poets who have mastered the unsaid, this talk will explore strategies to suspend logic, narrative, and even syntax in favor of lyric and gesture.

Stacey Balkun is the author of Sweetbitter & co-editor of Fiolet & Wing: An Anthology of Domestic Fabulism Poetry. Winner of the 2019 New South Writing Contest, her work has appeared in Best New Poets, Mississippi Review, Pleiades, & several other anthologies & journals. Stacey holds an MFA from Fresno State & teaches online at The Poetry Barn and The Loft. She is currently the Coordinator for the Graduate and Undergraduate English programs at the University of New Orleans.

For more information regarding this event, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on Facebook, Twitter Youtube, JPTV and Instagram (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

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Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO