This Thursday, Washington University will host the first of what organizers hope will be a series of storytelling events inspired by international organization The Moth.

Best known for The Moth Radio Hour on the Public Radio Exchange, the organization has expanded from New York City to fit different formats such as university readings, storytelling competitions and touring events. The program at Washington University was co-founded this year by juniors Abby Gordon and Lena Crown.

The organization hopes to represent a new offering to the literary community at the University, an outlet for personal nonfiction storytelling not currently represented by WU-SLam or the Department of English’s undergraduate readings. The theme of the inaugural event is “firsts.”

According to junior Nick Fierro, one of the slated performers, the event offers him a new, unique chance to tell stories.

“As far as talking to people and making them listen to me, that’s kind of the extent of my experience. But I’ve always really liked telling stories and writing them, and I thought this is totally up my alley,” Fierro said.

Crown is hopeful that the program will spread awareness about The Moth and nonfiction storytelling on the whole.

“Abby and I were eating lunch together, and it came up, and we decided that we need to bring this to campus. There’s kind of a niche of people who know about The Moth already, and we want to bring this awesome tradition to people who don’t,” Crown said.

Crown’s experience with The Moth came during a road trip with her dad.

“We have very different interests, and The Moth was something both of us enjoyed a lot. It’s different than listening to an audiobook or radio; listening to someone tell a story keeps you interested for a ton of time. And there are so many different stories and registers—we would laugh really hard and start crying five minutes later,” Crown added.

Crown also noted that founding the club has been remarkably easy, and that she was impressed by the stories that had been submitted.

“So far the quality of stories and the ease of editing have exceeded our expectations,” Crown said.

Sophomore Harry Hall, a member of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, thinks The Moth could strengthen the atmosphere of Washington University’s creative writing community.  

“I think there could be more of a literary community [at the University]…There’s the reading series events—those are nice—but more things like this where students can read and perform are always good,” Hall said.  

The club hopes to organize another reading centered around a new theme this semester before continuing in the spring semester.