Lit Arts Reading

On February 21, the Literary Arts conservatory hosted their third reading of the year in collaboration with Southern Word— a local organization for young writers that engages them in assemblies, in-class residencies, spoken word clubs, and afterschool writing workshops— in the NSA flex room. The theme of this months reading was “Love/Anti-Love.” The reading was emceed by Literary senior and 2023 Nashville Youth Poet Laureate, Lochlan Cooke, and Literary Junior, Tsurah Waire, who read her spoken word poetry about her experience as a black youth and conforming to the beauty standards subjected to her and others in this months Black History Month performance. It was attended by students, parents, friends of readers, and rising NSA students who will be joining the Literary Arts conservatory during the next school year. 

The event was opened by Sonia Fernandez Leblanc, a storyteller and community builder from Southern Word, who describes herself as a “Medicinal Story Weaver” and “Magical Realist.” Before beginning her story, she asked the audience to raise their hands if they ever had imaginary friends as children. Multiple people in the audience, students and parents alike, held their hands high in the air. She walked the audience through a story brimming with thought provoking, hilarious, and sentimental pieces of her childhood and her journey into motherhood that explained how she suspects that  the imaginary friends she had as a child have come back to her in the form of her two children. She ended her story by urging the audience, especially the parents in the room, to think back to the imaginary friends they had as children and explore how they may manifest in their current lives.  

The readers from the conservatory performed a mix of spoken word poetry and prose surrounding topics such as ex-lovers, motherhood, and grief. Learn a bit about this months readers representing the Literary Arts conservatory below, and be sure to attend the next and final reading of the 2023-2024 school year on Wednesday, April 10. 

Deidra Kelly is the result of a nearly two-decades long CIA experiment on the ability of a statue made of wood to feel love, officially named "Project Pygmalion" but de facto named "Project Pinocchio." Their work has been published in The Blood Pudding literary magazine and they are officially enrolled in Vassar College. They wish they had the time to give a whole sappy speech about how much the conservatory has done for them because this will be their last quarterly reading, but the show must go on. 

Mackenzie McIntyre is currently a sophomore at NSA. She normally focuses on short stories and novels. This is her piece called "I loved you." 

Kim Perez Martinez is a pessimist as much as they are a romantic, as their poetry stems from all kinds of love. The poem they are going to be performing isn’t just about one or two people, but instead involves all of the romantic experiences they’ve had. 

Marcus Robinson is a sophomore in the Lit. Arts conservatory. His focus on poetry is to spread his vision on what love truly is, rather than what the social norm says love is. His favorite child-hood show is Steven Universe, and mentally he’s so ready to graduate. This is his original untitled Prose Poetry piece, which he wrote during a workshop with author Julian R. Vaca. 

Marley Willard is a senior and a first year literary artist. She focuses mostly on creepy, horror filled short stories, like the piece she is reading: The Red and Black House.  

Nox Hatcher is a nonfiction writer and poet who tends to split his emotions and logic down the middle. He owns a book of shadows, and loves anything related to witches. His favorite past time is reading news articles and finding fun trivia to randomly tell people. He finds inspiration in his vague memories of early school and home life, as well as music and games as a medium of philosophy and storytelling.  

Grace Wilson is a sophomore who has been honored with UTC’s Young Southern Student Writer’s Award. Her work deals with girlhood, mental illness, and the formation and construction of identify in the internet age. 9 out of 10 mothers describe Grace as “a nice girl despite all the makeup.” 

Mason Friddell is a senior who specializes in colorful wording. Being primarily a visual artist, he stretches his writing muscles for fun and experimentation, always striving to improve his craft. 

Kai Shamim is a new writer at NSA in 9th grade. Her inspiration varies from real life events, constant existentialism, or what she calls her ‘internal podcast.’ Kai would describe herself as “a good example that: you can run but not hide from poetry.”