Ball State University has spent more than a decade celebrating first-time authors in what it calls a yearly “festival of first books.”  As IPR’s Val Jones reports, the event beginning Wednesday evening includes new authors who also regularly teach students.

Ball State University’s In Print Festival includes two days of author readings and panel discussions by first-time authors.

Organizer Matthew Mullins says attendees get to hear what authors have experienced that could be valuable to their field of study.

“Students get insight into what it is to go through everything that you need to go through to put a book together.  They get insight from someone who’s just been through the process, they get experience and information from people who have really just been through it.”

Students in creative writing classes could take some inspiration from featured author, Jan Shoemaker.  It took her quite some time to get her book published, and she says that students should be patient with their work as well.

“So yeah, I was pretty through the roof when it finally happened.  I had just about given up. I had sent out the manuscript to quite a few people and it had been rejected. Honestly I think the best advice is to keep sending out the manuscript.  Don’t stop doing it, but also move on with new work.”

Mullins says community interest is what keeps the event an annual occurrence.

“It’s bringing a really good and interesting thing to our students and to the Muncie area and to the university in general.”

Other authors featured include poet Carolina Ebeid, who is a student in the PhD program for creative writing at the University of Denver, and fiction writer Nick White, who teaches creative writing at Ohio State University.