Vietnamese refugee camps, soul singers and one-night stands were topics of discussion Monday night as rookie writers spoke at Ball State University.
Three newly published writers with contrasting styles shared excerpts from poems and books during the first night of the In Print Festival.
An English student introduced each writer with a humorous account of how she or she came to know and admire her chosen author.
First to the podium was Kao Yang with her memoir, "The Latecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir."
In giving an overview of how her family escaped the Vietnamese in Laos, Yang started with a passage from when she was 7 years old and living in a refugee camp.
Later in her speech, she said that the No. 1 killer of adults in the camp was suicide. There was a high number of suicides around the time of her birth in December 1980.
She then moved on to her experiences with her grandmother. She teared up when talking of being with her grandmother when she died and talking to her through her tombstone.
Yang said she wrote the book because she would go to the library and ask if there were any books about people like her. There never were, so she decided to write one herself.
Next up was Mitchell L. H. Douglas and "Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem."
Douglas' book told the life of soul singer Donny Hathaway though a series of poems. Douglas began with poems about Hathaway's childhood, then skipped to his college years, then to his first job and finally to Hathaway successfully recording a live album. The poems had names including "Lighter Notes" and "Midnight Owl."
The final speaker was Mary Miller, who wrote "Big World." The book is a series of short stories exploring loneliness and longing for a better life.
Miller joked that she had to carefully consider what she would read to the audience. She said she did not want to read a story that had too much sex or vulgarity.
The story she chose told of a woman and her deadbeat younger sister who had just moved into her apartment. They would go to the bars every night and try to pick up guys. The sister is often successful, but the woman was not.
The story explored how the woman wanted a better, more fulfilling life. The sister was happy with how things were and couldn't understand her big sister wasn't as well off.
Sarah Chaney, sophomore creative writing and Japanese major, found the event riveting.
"It was really interesting. I had a lot of fun," she said. "I could relate to my life a lot of their stories and their poems."
She said her favorite author was Mary Miller.
"Her stories are really honest life stories that we all have," Chaney said.
She said Miller inspired her to compile her diary entries into something she could share.
All three authors will speak again and be joined by fellow author and editor Matt Bell. They will take part in a panel discussion and Q-and-A session on what it takes to get published at 7:30 p.m. in the Art and Journalism Building Room 175.
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