At the English Reading Series winter finale, three master’s students offered a beautiful sample of the work that emerges from BYU’s creative writing program.
Since 1999, the Harold B. Lee Library has hosted its weekly English Reading Series to highlight modern writing talent. The winter semester finale featured three of BYU’s own student authors and some of their most memorable pieces. As each author took the podium to read selections of their work, they demonstrated skill, passion, and a shared commitment to creativity.
“Communing with Clementines”
The first author, Hadley Duncan Howard (Creative Writing MFA ’26), shared a selection from her essayistic memoir. Inspired by Duncan Howard’s own life, the memoir centered on clementines, a fruit that helped her endure a difficult pregnancy. Introducing her to the stage, a friend said, “How she managed to make clementines a marvel, a wonder, and a holy feast will forever stay with me.” Duncan Howard brought a display of the bright orange fruits for visual effect as she read. This excerpt from “Communing with Clementines” illustrates her unique voice:
"I took my first bite, popping the first segment onto my tongue in its entirety. It burst in my mouth, like first fireworks in the dead of night—color and movementand sound, liquid brightness of light and joy and wonder. It was extravagantly delicious. It held the universe within its flimsy membrane and offered it up with the liberality and largesse of the immortal. I had never in my life tasted something so vibrantly, so lavishly, so unselfconsciously alive."
After reading, Duncan Howard offered empowering words based on her own educational experience: “My advice is, do the hard thing—whatever it is in your life that you are interested in doing.” Following this counsel can lead to new skills, new passions, and new capacities for creativity.
“Ryan”
Next, Allison Hart (Creative Writing MFA ’26) shared a short story titled “Ryan” based on her dating life prior to meeting her husband. Hart’s illustrative writing was, as promised by the friend who introduced her, “bright, vivid, and at times emotionally devastating—but in a good way.” The following excerpt from “Ryan” pulls readers into a complicated moment involving both a breakup and a broken urn.
"The day I broke up with Ryan #7 was the day I broke Grandma Turner. Shards of trellised blue and ash scattered across hardwood floor like an explosive sneeze. My cursing drowned out the sound of Ryan yelling through the front door, demanding reentry to collect the evidence of his existence. Clothes, retainer, coffee mug, the shredded pair of chucks I always used to trip over in the doorway. His impression on my life could have been erased that same afternoon if I hadn’t needed to gather my great grandmother."
A cheerleader for other writers, Hart encouraged aspiring authors to build their writing community and to never put down the pen. “The only way you’re going to improve is just to keep writing, even if it’s garbage,” she said. “Just keep writing.”
“On Love and Lobsters”
Lastly, Paige Winegar Fetzer (English ’25, Creative Writing MFA ’26) shared several of her poems, including one titled “On Love and Lobsters” that featured her parents’ love story. This quirky and thoughtful tale of new love reflected Winegar Fetzer’s empathetic approach to creativity and her belief in the importance of being “a human first and a writer second.” Emphasizing the importance of compassionate writing, Winegar Fetzer told the audience, “The more that I learn about the world, . . . the more that I can effectively try to help in it.”
The kind of compassionate writing Winegar Fetzer described—writing that uplifts, inspires, and ennobles the spirit—is the kind of writing Duncan Howard hopes to keep seeing. She said, “It’s rough out there, and I would love to see more works that make me feel a little bit taller and a little bit broader when I finish reading them.”
Learn more about past and upcoming ERS lectures on the English Reading Series website..