APSU students explore Chicago’s literary scene with Pulitzer finalist

By: Dr. Andrea Spofford April 16, 2026

Austin Peay State University students visit Chicago to learn about the city’s literary past, present, and future. | Contributed photo

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University undergraduate students interested in creative writing recently received an immersive opportunity to visit Chicago and learn firsthand from Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Makkai, the 2025-2026 Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence.

Alongside students attending as part of a study away excursion, Destiny Biggs, Eder Robles Torres and Benjamin Lehtola were chosen from a competitive applicant pool, with funding provided by the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts.

Exploring Chicago’s literary past, present, and future was a key component of this trip. Students stopped by numerous bookstores and completed Chicago’s Literary Hall of Fame tour, visited the American Writers Museum and attended the Neo-Futurist Theatre for a production of The Infinite Wrench. Makkai also gave a lecture and held a discussion in the Fine Arts Building, while facilitating student exploration of the exhibition space and artists’ studios.

“The sheer scale of the [Fine Arts Building] moved me to no end,” Robles Torres said. “Having the opportunity to explore such a vast space that contained the history of so many of Chicago’s greatest creative minds was nothing short of inspirational. There, I was able to speak with the author Rebecca Makkai about the building’s history of fostering artists, and about the process of publishing literary works. I was incredibly grateful to be granted this insight into the literary industry.”

Austin Peay’s Creative Writing program emphasizes these kinds of professional development opportunities, allowing students to attend conferences like the Association for Writers and Writing Programs, take on internship opportunities for Zone 3 Press, organize the Zone 3 Writers' Festival, and more.

“The workshop with Rebecca Makkai taught us how important it is for writers to be willing to scrap or change their writing, even if they are proud of what they’ve written,” Biggs said. “Rebecca also talked with us about how necessary research is, especially when writing about a group or experience you are not familiar with. This workshop helped me realize that it is okay to make big changes, even if those changes create some extra work somewhere down the line. It was an honor to have the chance to talk with such a prominent member of the literary community, and I will carry her advice with me throughout my career.”

For more information about the Creative Writing program at APSU, Zone 3 Press, the Zone 3 Writers’ Festival, or other creative writing opportunities, contact Dr. Raymond Deeren at deerenr@apsu.edu.

About the Acuff Chair of Excellence

In 1985, country music legend Roy Acuff generously established an endowment to enrich the arts community at APSU and in Clarksville Montgomery County. The result was the Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence, which brings regionally and nationally acclaimed artists to APSU to share their expertise with students and the community in a dynamic atmosphere of unrestricted experimentation. The Acuff Chair rotates between APSU's four creative arts areas—Art + Design, Creative Writing, Music, Theatre & Dance—and has been filled each year with residencies by nationally and internationally known artists since its inception.

About the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts

Since 1985, the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA, or "seek-ah") has been providing students, the Clarksville community, and the middle Tennessee region with engaging experiences through the Art + Design, Creative Writing, Music, and Theatre & Dance programs at APSU. CECA brings as many as 85 guest artists to Clarksville each year and presents up to 100 public arts and culture events annually, including concerts, exhibitions, artist lectures, master classes, artist residencies, and more. In addition, CECA provides the arts faculty at APSU with research opportunities to enhance their professional growth as well as numerous student scholarships each year to support APSU's own emerging artists. To learn more about CECA, contact Dr. Andrea Spofford at spofforda@apsu.edu.