Grace Schutte

Background

About Grace Schutte

The sensation I experience while reading is ineffable. But, boy, do I still try to articulate the out-of-body ordeal that is reading. At the dawn of my bookish saga, my friends and I dubbed this feeling “Book World” in an attempt to manifest it into existence. In this novel place, time seems to slow. The words on the page are images playing before you like a movie. It is encompassing, thrilling, and so much more than that. This is what I want to do for a living. I want to aid in the process of delivering these otherworldly trips to readers of all ages and demographics. The first step I’ve taken toward achieving this is by being an avid reader myself (I like to say I came to it later in life—yes, middle school seems awfully behind—and I’ve been making up for lost time ever since.). Naturally this led to writing which, since my undergraduate days, has become part of my identity: Grace, appreciator of cappuccinos and capital-w “Writer.” Feeling at home in this newfound-ness, I took advantage of any and all opportunities to stretch out my creative legs. Those opportunities included getting involved at my university’s student newspaper, The Spectator; the Center for Writing Excellence where I worked as a Writing Assistant Intern and mentor; as an Editorial Intern at Volume One, an arts and culture magazine; and as an intern for both the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild, a non-profit organization set on fostering a supportive and sensational writing community within its area, and Barstow & Grand, a local literary publication that ponders the Upper Midwest experience. It was during this same time that I branched out within my academics and took on the roll of Student Researcher in a number of student-faculty projects, one of which looked into the matter of Life Writing and how Writing Centers can promote deeper and more meaningful connections between student writers and their craft, and the other concerning the rise of book bans in the United States. My research teams and I went on to present our findings at the International Writing Center Association Conference and at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, respectively. This work propelled me to apply for graduate school where I am currently earning my Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Western Washington University. To share the wonders of the written word with others sounds awfully appealing to me, and I am more than ready to begin this next adventure in the workplace, whether that be at a journal, community college, or university.