Slippery Rock University alumna Lydia Seaton, ’26, recently achieved national recognition through the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) for her creative work. Nominated by Patrick McGinty, associate professor of languages, literatures, cultures, and writing, Seaton’s psychological fiction piece “Kintsugi” was named a finalist and earned an honorable mention in the AWP Intro Journals Project.
“This opportunity was very surreal,” Seaton said. “I was incredibly flattered, and it feels great to receive this recognition and know that there are people who have connected with my writing.”
“Kintsugi,” which Seaton wrote as a project in one of McGinty’s creative fiction courses, explores themes of heavy emotions through a traditional form of Japanese art that involves repairing and mending broken pieces of pottery or glass.
“This story was inspired by my own anxiety, the feeling of losing family or being alone,” Seaton said. “One night, I was sewing up my dog’s toy, and I was thinking about repairing things instead of just throwing them away. The idea of mending came into my head, and that idea compounded with that fear of losing family and not wanting to let something go.”
While the title suggests a sense of healing or growth, “Kintsugi” takes a dark, horrific turn.
“That concept led me to this idea of a woman who lost her family and is not coping well,” Seaton explained. “In my story, she keeps her family in her basement and is ‘saving’ them in refrigerated states, repairing them until the day she can bring them back. This piece is about anxiety and family connections; I tend to isolate these very basic human emotions and then turn the dial up to one hundred in my work.”
For Seaton, the validation from the AWP was a welcome reward for the persistence required in the literary field. Seaton, a native of Emlenton (Allegheny-Clarion Valley HS), graduated in May with a degree in English writing.
“Writing can be a pretty hopeless process,” Seaton said. “You constantly deal with rejection after rejection, but to know that someone connected with my writing is really nice. When you are rejected, people often say, ‘The writing isn’t bad, it’s just not for me.’ So, being able to find a certain niche where my writing actually was for someone was very validating.”
The AWP Intro Journals Project is a prestigious competition for the discovery and publication of undergraduate and graduate student creative work. The AWP was established in 1967 as a nonprofit organization, with a focus on supporting the growing number of literary writers in higher education. Winners of the project have their creative pieces included in high-profile literary journals from across the country.
More information about the AWP can be found on the association’s webpage, and more information about the English program at SRU can be found on the program’s webpage.
