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Cotter is a local to Buffalo and Canisius, currently commuting in from her hometown of East Aurora to head to class along the same halls where her parents went to college and occasionally, finding herself in a class with a professor who once taught her mother or father. She is a graduate of Buffalo’s Nardin Academy, which she credits for developing and encouraging her all-around writing skills. Along with English, Cotter is a major in history and art history, and hopes to pursue creative writing as a career.
Cotter loves reading almost as much as writing, which the massive library fines she has accumulated over the years attest. She doesn’t think she knows how to not tell stories, but hopes, at Canisius, to most of all learn how to tell them well. Cotter has found her writing to change and improve with each college course she’s taken and every time she’s pushed to write; notably in all the creative writing courses she has taken so far, including Advanced Fiction, Literary Publishing, and Playwriting, but also in other English, history, and religion courses that have encouraged creative assignments. She has had pieces published in Quadrangle both of her years here so far and is also on its staff, which has allowed her to try her hand at editing too. She currently works for the Contemporary Writers Series and is continually excited to be able to meet writers as relatable people rather than distant, vaguely mysterious figures.
Cotter enjoys a vast range of fiction, but especially loves magical realism and literary fiction with a glimmer of stardust. She particularly follows contemporary authors Alice Hoffman, Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett and, of course, J.K. Rowling. She finds fairy tales and mythology especially inspiring and also favors mysteries, from Dashiell Hammett to Agatha Christie and from Nancy Drew to Sherlock Holmes. Cotter hopes someday to publish stories a tenth as captivating as she’s found her favorite works to be.
Favorite Quote:
“The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it’s about and why you’re doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising (“but of course that’s why he was doing that, and that means that…”) and it’s magic and wonderful and strange. You don’t live there always when you write. Mostly it’s a long hard walk. Sometimes it’s a trudge through fog and you’re scared you’ve lost your way and can’t remember why you set out in the first place. But sometimes you fly, and that pays for everything.” - Neil Gaiman, author
Personally, this quote reflects exactly what trying to write feels like, and happily, I’ve found that here at Canisius my professors are always there with a flashlight when my writing’s entrenched in those foggy moments, with more encouragement and engaged, constructive criticism than I could imagine finding anywhere else and which, for me, has meant more and more moments writing feel like flight.
Read Impossible Anonymous, a short story by Cara Cotter, here.
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A native Buffalonian educated at Catholic institutions, Kersten's interest in reading and writing has ripened with age. Growing up in a household with three brothers, she found solace in perusing stories of adventure and journaling about life experiences. During grammar school and high school, Kersten took a liking to English classes and was encouraged by her parents and teachers to pursue a creative outlet. It was at Canisius where she truly fell in love with literature, what she considers art and expression. Kersten has very eclectic tastes, enjoying works from Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Khaled Hosseini, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and James Joyce. She is particularly interested in fiction writing as it shapes and informs.
Besides reading and writing, Kersten enjoys running, tutoring students, volunteering locally, and participating in such activities as Colleges Against Cancer, Relay for Life, and Circle of Women. Her future aspirations include attending graduate school for English and publishing fiction.
Favorite Quote: In response to students' question about why their writing matters, Anne Lamott said:
"Because of the spirit. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."
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While growing up just down the road in West Seneca, NY, Caitlin always knew that she wanted to pursue writing, a journey that has led her to Canisius College. She attended St. Bonaventure Elementary School and West Seneca West Middle School before attending and graduating from West Seneca West High School in 2008. It was during her salutatorian speech that she realized the true power of words. After considering studying zoology, botany, history and just about every other subject, she decided that English was the only one she kept coming back to again and again. Always interested and often distracted by new subjects, she likes to learn something new every day and incorporate it into her writing. At Canisius, her interest in literature has grown and she has discovered a love for novels by John Steinbeck and Oscar Wilde and poetry by Pablo Neruda, as well as more contemporary works. She is thankful for the priceless support in her writing that she has continued to find from the English Department and her fellow students.
When she’s not reading or working on her newest writing project, Caitlin enjoys spending time with friends and family, hiking, playing guitar, and biking. She hopes to get her MFA in Creative Writing or continue on to a PhD in English and see where she ends up along the way.
When asked why she’s chosen English and Creative Writing, Caitlin will tell you that, no, she does not have a master career plan for teaching or journalism. She just wants to write fiction, whether that means writing plays, screenplays, novels, songs or poetry. She wants to try every form at least once and believes that if she sticks to writing, doors will be opened along the way to new and unexpected opportunities, as is usually the case when you follow your heart.
Favorite Quote: "You must write every single day of your life…You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads….may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world." - Ray Bradbury
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Brittani Mroz is glad to call Buffalo home. Raised in Elma, NY, she finds the contrasts between the country and the city to be interesting. However, she find their similarities to be even more illuminating. A graduate of Iroquois High School, Mroz always gravitated to her English classes, and gives a lot of credit to her teachers at Iroquois for sparking her desire to write. She found that the value of the written word was irreplaceable, and like Keats’ love of the Grecian Urn, admires the permanence of the arts. Mroz loves writing fiction, but it is with poetry where her passion really lies. Her favorite poets are Pablo Neruda, Jim Morrison, Allen Ginsberg, W.B. Yeats, and William Blake. In the way of fiction, no one can ever top James Joyce. And as non-fiction, Tom Wolfe will always inspire her, and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test will continue to be read annually.
Aside from writing Mroz loves to read, even if it means traveling far distances requiring a few gas tank fill-ups, and a Mighty Taco dinner paid with change just to find a quiet place to read. Right next to reading and writing is music, which Mroz has found to be another realm of inspiration. Mroz loves traveling to music festivals and concerts and has more often than not found herself revisiting those places via poetry. Mroz loves art, and although she doesn’t claim to really “know anything” about it, can be found at the Albright-Knox eavesdropping on whoever sounds more “artistic.” Mroz is on a journey to become a painter, but is finding that she enjoys it too much to really learn how.
After Canisius, Mroz plans to attend graduate school, preferably in California, and pursue a PhD. Mroz then hopes to publish poetry as well as fiction, and become a professor, or at least, a bit better writer than she is now.
Favorite Quotes: To those who say, “But what will you do with a degree in English? You’ll never make any money!” I give you Nietzsche, pinned upon Jack Kerouac’s wall:
“Art is the highest task and the proper metaphysical activity of this life.”
And additionally, William Blake, on his view of imagination, “Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.”