By: Ava Kofman

 

A crowd of about 40 students, parents and strangers, loitered on March 7 in the central courtyard of Dutton’s Books in Brentwood, an independent bookstore known for its popularity with authors and loyal patrons, which will be closing in a few weeks.

Kiran Arora ’08 walked to a centered podium illuminated by a modest lamp. Everyone fell silent with the San Vicente traffic symphony remaining.

As one of the editors, he welcomed everyone to the semiannual Stonecutters reading. Stonecutters, the school’s biannual literary magazine, publishes student artwork and writing. Student authors featured in the current issue took turns reading their work, ranging from poems, to personal stories.

Siena Leslie ‘08 began with a poem called “Syncretic” inspired by issue’s theme, Mythology. The theme was chosen for its broadness and prevalence in works of writing around the world, said Ryan Wilson, one of the faculty advisors. The twenty student authors featured in the issue were inspired by the theme in various ways from poems based on Greek mythology to pieces about the myth of family.

“It takes a lot of courage to read our own words in front of a crowd of people,” Wilson said.