Author Bill Roorbach Named New Jenks Chair at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Bill Roorbach, critically acclaimed author and winner of a 2002 O. Henry Award, has been named the new Jenks Chair in Contemporary American Letters at the College of the Holy Cross. In addition to teaching duties in the English Department, he will work to bring other authors to campus for readings and lectures. Roorbach succeeds Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia and the newly released Symptomatic, who held the post since 2000.

Roorbach, who has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kaplan Foundation, has published widely praised works in both fiction and nonfiction. His collection of short stories, Big Bend, (University of Georgia Press, 2001) won the Flannery O’Connor Award in 2001. Counterpoint Press recently issued Big Bend in a matching edition with his novel The Smallest Color, described by the Boston Globe as "Superb…a novel that instantly demands your attention and holds it until the surprisingly sweet conclusion."

Roorbach's nonfiction works include A Place on Water, with Robert Kimber and Wesley McNair (Tilbury House, 2004); Into Woods (University of Notre Dame Press, 2002); Summers with Juliet (Houghton Mifflin, 1992); and The Art of Truth (Oxford University Press, 2001), an anthology of literary memoirs, personal essays, and literary journalism which he edited. His new book, Temple Stream (Dial Press), is forthcoming in 2005. More information can be found at www.billroorbach.com.

His short work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including The Atlantic, Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, and New York, and has been featured on National Public Radio's "Selected Shorts."

Roorbach earned his bachelor's degree from Ithaca College in New York, and his M.F.A. in fiction writing from Columbia University, where he was awarded a School of the Arts Fellowship and a Fellowship of Distinction. He has taught at Colby College, Ohio State University, and the University of Maine at Farmington.

Roorbach is married to painter Juliet Karelsen; the couple has one daughter, Elysia, who is almost four.

Established in 1988, the Jenks Chair is named in honor of William H.P. Jenks '54 who had to leave the College in 1951, during his sophomore year, when a bout with polio left him a quadriplegic. Jenks remained devoted both to Holy Cross and his class, serving as class secretary for more than 25 years. In 1979, the College granted him an honorary degree. In 1988, an anonymous donor made a gift in his name, contributing $1 million to endow a professorship in the English department. Jenks died the following year on Christmas Day.

The first Jenks Chair was held jointly by husband and wife writers, Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays, from 1993-1995. Christopher Merrill held the position from 1995-1999. The position is an initial appointment of two years, and may be extended up to five years.