The WSC Writing Club is in the process of producing a collection of poetry written by Nebraska poets called “The Flat Water Stirs: An Anthology of Emerging Nebraska Poets.”

“We came up with the idea when we were having a discussion one day after writing club,” said Dr. Stephanie Marcellus, club advisor and English professor. “We were talking about the limited outlets there are for writers who are just starting out to submit their work.”

According to Marcellus, there are very few opportunities for emerging writers to publish their work, which can be discouraging for young creators.

“So we thought, why can’t we do it? Why can’t we call for submissions for emerging writers? So we created the idea of the anthology,” Marcellus said.

Marcellus and a few other writing club members decided to invite eager poets who want to share their work with a wider audience to submit to the anthology. Since this year is Nebraska’s 150th birthday, they wanted to connect Nebraska and emerging writers together in the collection.

“All of the poets are connected to Nebraska in some way, even if it is not directly mentioned in the poem,” Marcellus said. “We wanted to celebrate Nebraska poets and the rich legacy of poetry in Nebraska.”

The title of the anthology is a way to connect poetry and Nebraska as well.

“Nebraska means ‘flat water’ and the ‘stirs’ part of the title represents all of the poetic voices stirring and coming to life in the book,” Marcellus said.

In addition to all the Nebraska poet voices, the book will also feature a foreword by the state poet laureate, Twyla Hansen.

“I think it is really neat that she is going to be a part of our project,” Marcellus said. “I reached out to her and told her what we were working on and she was so pleased to write the foreword. As the state laureate, it is part of her job to increase awareness about Nebraska poetry, and I think our anthology meets that goal of spreading awareness.”

The deadline for submitting to the anthology was Feb. 14. It received 64 submissions and approximately 125 poems total.

“Something we are all working for is to create a collection that showcases all of the amazing poets we have in the state of Nebraska and a place for them to show their voices,” Marcellus said. “The strength of the poetry is incredible and we received some really amazing poems.”

Next, Marcellus and the editors from the writing club will meet and select which poems will be published. Then it will be a matter of editing and laying out the design.

After all the finishing touches are complete, “The Flat Water Stirs: An Anthology of Emerging Nebraska Poets” will be published by the WSC Press.