Author speaks on career

By MOIRA QUINN news Writer

o n Wednesday night, s aint m ary’s alumna a driana Trigiani spoke at a virtual Q& a hosted by b elles’ b ook n ook regarding the time she spent as a student and her life working as a bestselling author. s tarted by a group of e nglish majors, the club offers monthly meetings for students to come together and discuss their current favorite books with one another.

Jaden d aher, a senior at s aint m ary’s who has been interning for Trigiani the last two years talked about the revival of b elles’ b ook n ook, as it once only catered towards e nglish majors.

“a lot of people think it’s a book club, but it’s not,” she said. “We wanted it to be inclusive for all majorws and people who love e nglish, even if they’re not an e nglish major.” a s an e nglish major herself, d aher discussed the excitement she has surrounding Trigiani coming to speak to a group of students.

“ i t’s really nice to have such a close link to someone who has succeeded in this major from s aint m ary’s,” she said. “ i t’s really inspiring and we’re all very excited to have her come talk.” d uring the meeting, Trigiani thoughtfully spoke to the group about a multitude of questions she received. o ne of the questions was about the importance of reading and improving on your writing skills, even if you do not consider yourself a writer.

“ e verything that you do and everything that you choose is you writing your story for good or for ill,” she said. “Look at the books on your shelf, look at the books you like to read, keep a notebook of what you’re reading, and soon a style will e merge.”

Trigiani also commented on her connections to s aint m ary’s and n otre d ame, even after she graduated.

“ i ’m still in touch with all my friends from s aint m ary’s and n otre d ame because we had a joint theater department.” she said. “When i was at s aint m ary’s, they saw i had talent and they let me write and direct on the main stage of the n otre d ame and s aint m ary’s theaters.”

Trigiani went on to talk about her viewpoint on the world of publishing today.

“You have to always be looking down the road at what you think people are going to want,” she said. “You have to go with the river, you can’t fight the river, and one of the main reasons i think that i have survived and that i ’m still at it, and that i have projects and developments being made into movies that i ’m going to direct is because i am very flexible.”

While Trigiani’s Q& a was the first club event of the spring semester, b elles’ b ook n ook has many other exciting things to offer.

“ s o far we’ve done read-ins or read-outs depending on the weather, where people get together and talk about what book they’re reading or just come to read for homework,” d aher said. “We did a poetry slam with mocktails that were based on literary character, and i think we will do another read-in or read-out this semester, too.”

Contact Moira Quinn at mquinn02@saintmarys.edu