Southeast’s biannual ‘Wordsfair!,’ an event meant to inspire and encourage the town’s literary community, will return to campus this weekend.

The event is sponsored by Journey, Southeast’s annual literary magazine and will feature readings from seven students, as well as guest writer Nathan Graziano.

Daniel Crocker, southeast professor, frequently-published poet and organizer of the event, called it an excellent opportunity for young writers to practice reading their work. He said readings are a necessary practice when attempting to get published. He said the ‘Wordsfair!’ is free and open to the public.

“Once you get something published, especially poetry, one of the best ways to get the word out and sell books it is to get out and do some reading,” Crocker said. “They get to show some off their best work to the crowd.”

Crocker and Graziano met through a common publisher, and the latter said events like these are more important than ever in a world turning perpetually further from reading anything other than social media posts.

“Anytime I see students excited about writing, I can feed off of that,” Graziano said. “We were all young writers at one point. So to see people who are genuinely into it and to see them come out and support one another, I think that's really cool.”

Graziano said when it comes to writing, doing it for any reason other than love of the craft will result in dissatisfaction.

“Writing is always an uphill climb, and it’s gotten more difficult as time has gone on,” he said. “There’s no sugarcoating it. Making it in any creative field is extremely difficult. If you don’t love it, then maybe you should do something else.”

As for the work he plans to share at the Wordsfair!, Graziano said it is mostly flash fiction, dealing with less than savory issues.

“The new book really visits some fairly dark avenues, particularly themes of addiction and infidelity,” he said. “But I also believe in the helium balloon. You have to be able to approach any topic with a sense of humor and levity.”

The ‘Wordsfair!’ will take place in the University Center Ballroom A from noon to 3 p.m. March 21. Crocker said books will be handed out as door prizes and Graziano will be reading and answering questions at 2 p.m. and available to sign copies afterward.