LC senior and English major Laura Bianca won first place for original poetry at the 2009 Poetry Symposium, held at Virginia Military Institute on March 7. She, senior Ally Datz, and junior Taelor Skinner were chosen to read original poetry at the symposium.
"Winning was a total surprise," Bianca said. "I never thought I would win because all of the students were excellent and had just as much passion for their work as I did."
When asked about the event, Datz said, "I enjoyed listening to other students read their poetry. So many people had so many different ideas and different takes on what poetry is, what it should be, and where it's going. ... It wasn't so much a Poetry Symposium as a "Poetry Extravaganza," because we focused on poetry, and only poetry, for two solid days."
Students from nine other area colleges participated in the event that included presentations by students as well as readings and seminars given by Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa and lyric poet Julia Kasdorf.