Texas-born writer Oscar Casares will share his writing inspirations and pieces from his works with students March 23-24 in NSTU Center Corner on NE Campus as guest speaker for the NE English department’s Living Literature.

“I plan to speak to the students about how a person who grew up without books came to find himself writing books of his own and teaching others to do the same,” Casares said.

Born and reared on the Texas border in Brownsville, Casares teaches creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin. He will share excerpts from his books Brownsville and Amigoland and will offer insight to help students cultivate their interests in writing and their individual creative processes.

“My path to becoming a writer involved first discovering what I might be good at and then allowing myself to explore this new path, which I believe is something most students struggle to find,” he said.

Casares will speak 7:15-8:30 p.m. in NSTU Center Corner on March 23 and again 9:15-10:45 a.m. at the same location on March 24.

The NE English Department offers Living Literature once a year in March to give students a chance to hear from and speak with experienced living writers. Last year’s guest was African-American writer Sonia Sanchez.

“We’d like our students to have the experience to interact with a professional writer,” said NE English professor Eric Devlin. “There’s a great deal to be learned from these people.”

—Leah Bosworth