As the semester is coming to an end for students, it is also coming to an end for the intern-run Slash Pine Press, which will host its final event of the semester on Saturday morning.
Just a few weekends ago, Slash Pine hosted its third annual writers festival, which brought in writers from as far away as Seattle, Wash. and St. Augustine, Fla.
This weekend, Slash Pine is hosting a more informal event – a “downtown bike hike” that will begin at Edelweiss Bakery and Café, move to Capitol Park and end at Green Bar.
Vivian Givhan, a Slash Pine intern and a sophomore majoring in English, said the bike hike isn’t as orchestrated as the festival was, and it’s more of a fun culmination of the semester’s work.
“I’m looking forward to being able to grab a cup of coffee and a pastry and being able to talk with people,” she said. “Unlike the festival, there will be more interaction and less running from location to location. There also won’t be as much of a separation between the writer and the audience.”
Nor will there be separate readings for readers of different age groups or professional levels. Slash Pine interns, other undergraduate students, English department faculty, creative writing graduate students and even a few out-of-towners will read their works side-by-side throughout the bike hike.
“Part of the beauty of it is that it’s such a mix. It’s nice to have some undergraduates and some faculty members reading at the same event,” Givhan said.
For Jake Smith, a junior in New College and third-semester intern with Slash Pine, the bike hike will be one of the last events he will attend as an intern.
Compared to other events hosted by Slash Pine, Smith said this one “doesn’t have as much of a hubbub about it,” which is both good and bad.
“We won’t reach as many people, but it’s more relaxed and more about people wanting to hang out,” he said. “It’s just a bunch of people of different age groups, professional levels and backgrounds getting together because they like to read and write.”
Both Smith and Givhan will read during the hike, and both expect there to be a mixture of people walking and riding bikes.
“I’m going to walk,” Givhan said, “but I know some people will ride bikes [to Edelweiss] from where they live.”
Smith said he wouldn’t be surprised if some people biked to Edelweiss to “scope it out,” but then walked between locations.
Sarah Seaton, another Slash Pine intern, said the event is great because it is outdoors.
“When you share your work in a space that is outdoors and a space that is outside your everyday environment, it evokes a different emotion,” she said. “It’s all about the idea of space.”
Though Slash Pine has a preliminary list of people interested in reading at the event, Givhan said people can probably volunteer to read on the day of the hike, especially since the readers won’t have set locations for their readings.
Readers and listeners will meet at Edelweiss, which is located near the intersection of 4th and 23rd streets, around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 23. Hikers can meet and greet each other over coffee and pastries before walking (or biking) to Capitol Park, where the first reading will start around 11:30. Then, hikers will make their way to the Green Bar for another reading, which will start around 2 p.m.
For more information about Slash Pine, visit slashpinepress.com.
