'Intruding' successfully into writing

Poems, prose and advice were recited Thursday evening at the "Writers Who Edit" book reading .

Jill Bialosky was the featured author, poet and editor who spoke to a crowded audience on the first floor of the UConn Co-op.

Bialosky read sections from her latest novel "The Life Room" and poems from her collection called "Intruder."

The author said the inspiration for writing "The Life Room" came from reading novels about female protagonists.

"All the female characters had to die for their passions. I wanted to write a book where the character doesn't have to die for what they believe in," said Bialosky.

Before the author began to read sections from her book she explained that a life room is a room where an artist paints the human who is modeling for the painter.

Bialosky's voice entranced her audience as she told the story of Eleanor, a female protagonist. She has her family and job as a literature professor. She's not used to being away from her house or her daily life routine, but when she receives the honor of going to Paris to talk about literature, she can't give up the opportunity. Eleanor meets someone from her past while in Paris and is reconnected with her passionate, younger self. Bialosky takes the reader from Eleanor's present to her past and puts the character's responsibilities as an adult woman at odds with her dreams.

"The book is very much about the creation of art," said Bialosky. "The way in which art mirrors life."

"The Life Room" was written over a period of four years. She took turns writing her novel and her book of poems.

"There was freedom not to put pressure on any one book," the author said.

After reading passages from her novel, Bialosky picked out poems from "Intruder" to recite.

"Intruder" is the representation of the other self or muse. It's an intimate voice," said Bialosky.

The poems the author read dealt with an intruder emerging out of something or appearing out of nowhere. In "The Seduction" the intruder emerges out of a fire and in "The Figure" the intruder is in an art room.

When Bialosky was done reading her work the audience had the opportunity to ask the author questions. She talked about her work as an editor for W.W. Norton and Company, a publishing company in New York. She said for a long time it was a love, hate relationship with the editorial process but eventually she fell into it.

Katelyn Wilson, 3rd semester English major is interested in editing. "It's something to look into. Writers are limited. Editing gets you in a position to have people look into your own work," said Wilson. Wilson also enjoyed Bialosky's use of imagery seen in her work.

Bialosky also spoke of the writing process she partakes in that gets her stories and characters developed.

"I have an image in my mind when I begin to write. With poems it begins with an ordinary event. Then an idea. How do you go deeper? I make the ordinary scene more idea driven," explained the poet.

Writing novels often takes a lot of time and Bialosky said that an author has to write something that they can live with for a number of years.

"You have to really take hold of something you care about," Bialosky said.

Publicist, Jantje Tielken, from Curbstone Press was invited to the book reading by Penelope Pelizzon, English professor at the University of Connecticut who spoke at the event.

Tielken said she was curious about the author.

"She kept the attention and the pieces she read were intriguing," said the publicist. "She sounded very good, very accessible and passionate.