On Wednesday night, Saint Mary’s alumna Adriana Trigiani spoke at a virtual Q&A hosted by Belles’ Book Nook regarding the time she spent as a student and her life working as a bestselling author. Started by a group of English majors, the club offers monthly meetings for students to come together and discuss their current favorite books with one another.
Jaden Daher, a senior at Saint Mary’s who has been interning for Trigiani the last two years talked about the revival of Belles’ Book Nook, as it once only catered towards English majors.
“A lot of people think it’s a book club, but it’s not,” she said. “We wanted it to be inclusive for all majors and people who love English, even if they’re not an English major.”
As an English major herself, Daher discussed the excitement she has surrounding Trigiani coming to speak to a group of students.
“It’s really nice to have such a close link to someone who has succeeded in this major from Saint Mary’s,” she said. “It’s really inspiring and we’re all very excited to have her come talk.”
During the meeting, Trigiani thoughtfully spoke to the group about a multitude of questions she received. One of the questions was about the importance of reading and improving on your writing skills, even if you do not consider yourself a writer.
“Everything that you do and everything that you choose is you writing your story for good or for ill,” she said. “Look at the books on your shelf, look at the books you like to read, keep a notebook of what you’re reading, and soon a style will emerge.”
Trigiani also commented on her connections to Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame, even after she graduated.
“I’m still in touch with all my friends from Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame because we had a joint theater department.” she said. “When I was at Saint Mary’s, they saw I had talent and they let me write and direct on the main stage of the Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s theaters.”
Trigiani went on to talk about her viewpoint on the world of publishing today.
“You have to always be looking down the road at what you think people are going to want,” she said. “You have to go with the river, you can’t fight the river, and one of the main reasons I think that I have survived and that I’m still at it, and that I have projects and developments being made into movies that I’m going to direct is because I am very flexible.”
While Trigiani’s Q&A was the first club event of the spring semester, Belles’ Book Nook has many other exciting things to offer.
“So far we've done read-ins or read-outs depending on the weather, where people get together and talk about what book they're reading or just come to read for homework,” Daher said. “We did a poetry slam with mocktails that were based on literary character, and I think we will do another read-in or read-out this semester, too.”
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