For writers and students, a break from solitude
A crowd was waiting when husband-and-wife fiction writers Paul Yoon and Laura van den Berg arrived at the Barker Center last month to discuss the pleasures, choices, and sacrifices that come with writing. Their appearance was sponsored by Writers in the Parlor, a series founded and curated by Bret Anthony Johnston, director of creative writing in Harvard’s English Department. Since its launch in 2007, the series has helped to make the writing life a little less lonely for both visitors and students, said Johnston, the author of the story collection “Corpus Christi.” “We wanted to invite extraordinary writers to participate in conversations with our student writers,” said Johnston. “The goal was for the conversations to be intimate and wide-ranging, exploring contemporary and classic literature, the author’s work and experience, the students’ writing and aspirations, anything and everything that comes with a life in letters.” Yoon, who has published two books, is the Roger...