In the spring of 1964 a group of first-year students at Hollins created beanstalks, a literary magazine designed to bring their writing to readers in the Hollins community and beyond. The talent, creativity, and moxie of this little magazine and its creators exemplify the deep appreciation of writing at Hollins. Like so many alumnae, the members of this group have continued to be involved with writing in various ways after graduation – as editors, technical writers, journalists, lawyers, teachers, scholars, literacy advocates, readers, and yes, even as writers of creative non-fiction, poetry, and fiction.

In 2003, Hollins received a generous endowment to celebrate and support this tradition of creating and appreciating good writing. The goal of the Beanstalk Endowment is to bring readers and writers together at the Wyndham Robertson Library and Hollins University. The endowment was named after beanstalks to honor the contribution of this group to the writing legacy at Hollins, to play on the metaphor of great things rising from small beginnings.

Previous Speakers

2004
William Jay Smith
Stephanie Strickland
Toi Derricotte

2005
Mark Edmundson
James Tate
John Hollander

2006
Colette Inez
Tony D’Souza
Anna-Lisa Cox

2007
Lee Smith
Joel Chace
Laura Benedict
Steve Watkins
Matthew Makar
Naomi Wallace

2008
Lisa Solood Warren
Sharon Leiter
Cathryn Hankla
Marcia Douglas

2009
Carrie Brown
Jane Gentry Vance
Maureen Sullivan
Edward P. Jones

2010
Laura Browder
Judith Kerman
Elizabeth Rosen
Elizabeth Strout

2011
David Shields
Lorna Goodison

2012
Jaimy Gordon
Mat Johnson

2013
John Rybicki
Edith G. Pearlman
Benjamin George

2014
Kyle Dargan
Luke Johnson & Will Schutt
James McBride

2015
Ethan Hauser

2016
Janisse Ray
Rick Blunt
Roxane Gay

2017
Emily St. John Mandel

2018
C.E. Morgan
Sunil Yapa

2019
Carol Moldaw, Aaron Coleman, and Martha Rhodes
Balli Jaswal

2020
Heath Lee
Heid Erdrich

2021
Nora Krug
J. Drew Lanham

2023
Kendra Allen

2024
Ethel Morgan Smith

Last updated: April 23, 2024 at 16:58 pm