Five student authors shared their stories and poems during Diablo Valley College literature week.

Sterling Farrance, Gabriel Fiandeiro, Kari Flickinger, Diylon Heier Ross and Allie Jones all shared their most personal and exclusive stories. Each story was about personal things that they had gone through in their life, presented in the form of poems and short stories.

Farrance shared his nonfiction personal essay with the working title “The Empty Corner,” about how he dealt with the passing of his father. Farrance is a UC Berkeley English major who is also a DVC supplemental instructor at night. His future plans are to go to a grad school close by once he’s done at Berkeley. His piece gave me insight on how differently people deal with loosing a loved one, and we should all take time to be with the ones we love.

Fiandeiro shared two stories with students and staff. “The Rose” told the story of a sad breakup and a short poem called “Finally A Woman” told an empowering story about not having to hide who he really is anymore. Fiandeiro is an immigrant from South Africa and a DVC student who is pursuing a degree in English. Fiandeiro wants to become a teacher to help students understand English and share his love for poems and short stories. Fiandeiro pieces really made me realize that everyone deals with a different pass and we should never be too quick to judge.

Flickinger shared her attention grabbing short stories and poems. Her piece, “Violence is to Human as Sorrow is to Women,” was a compelling poem that moved you right to the core. Flickinger has published many of her works on Milkjournal, Panoplyzine, Susurrus, Janes Boy Press, The Daily Californian and many more. She to wants to be an English teacher. Flickinger’s stories were eye opening and made me want to focus on things that I push to the side on more often.

Ross read his personal poems including “Safely Isolated” and “Weekend Custody.” Ross is a DVC student who wants to major in English and spent his time in the learning center and became a tutor to help people understand more about English. His poems and short stories made me realize that even when you feel alone, there is someone not to far away facing the same battle that you are in.

Jones also read a series of her poems including “Grace,” “Roadkill,” “Celibacy” and “Flesh and Blood and Piss.” Jones spend most of her life on the East Coast and came back to California for high school. She worked as a classroom special ed para and a tutor for children with learning disabilities. She plans to attain a second associate’s in psychology at DVC and plans to go to grad school become a pediatric genetic counselor. Her poems were amazing and really went into depth on her personal life and how she views the world.

After they read their personal but astonishing poems and short stories, the audience got the ability to ask these young writers questions.

One of the questions that was asked was, “What motivates you to write such deep poems and stories?”

“Deadlines,” said Flickinger.

“I find it harder to not write about,” Jones said. “It’s one of the ways that I process the world.”

If you love writing or reading literature or just want to learn more about literature, make sure you attend literature week to hear reading from students, faculty and big time authors read from their own works.