By Sara Ballenger

Writers read their work to audiences of English students at the Los Altos High School writers’ conference last week. The 16th annual event gave students and budding writers an opportunity to talk directly with poets, novelists, and journalists about their work.

English teacher Galen Rosenberg helped coordinate the event with parent volunteers. Rosenberg decided on a class schedule for the authors and compiled a collection of the writers’ work to distribute to the classes.

“We have had a great event this year with a good diverse group of writers and great material to read,” Rosenberg said.

The writers range in talent from New York Times Bestsellers, poets, to children’s book authors.

Many of the speakers during the conference are from the Wallace Stegner post-graduate creative writing program at Stanford University, which awards two-year fellowships to 10 writers and poets per year.

One of the fellows to speak was poet Carl Marcum. He spoke to a senior English Literature class March 30. A Tuscon, Ariz., native, Marcum spoke of his background and his Mexican-American heritage.

Asking the class which poem they would like to hear aloud, Marcum eloquently read a selection called, “Word Assimilation,” written in both English and Spanish.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “Kids need to know that poetry is a viable and living art form still happening before them, it’s not just rhymes and flowers anymore.”

Marcum just published his first book of poems, “Cue Lazarus.” He wants young authors to know it is possible to be a published poet, which is one of the goals of the conference.

“For the student interested in writing, it shows that you can grow up to be a writer if that is what you want to do. It is not an illusion,” Rosenberg said.

“It helps us with the process of writing, how to develop characters and plot, and how a lot of different styles of writing use the same methods,” said Beryl Lee, a 10th-grade English student.

For the average student going to college but not necessarily for writing, the conference also holds benefits.

“There is the opportunity to connect real work and written English to a real person, to the process behind it.” Rosenberg said.

“We do a lot of writing in school. I don’t really plan to be a writer as a career, but it’s interesting to see how it (writing) plays itself out in the real world,” said Julia Zaks, a 10th-grade English student.