Acclaimed Author Scott Russell Sanders to Talk About Writer's Vocation at Holy Cross

Scott Russell Sanders, acclaimed author of more than 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, will give the annual Vocation of the Writer address on Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library, Smith Hall, at the College of the Holy Cross. Part of the Working Writers Series, the talk is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at Holy Cross. It is free and open to the public.

Considered one of the great essayists writing today, Sanders most recently published “Earth Works” (Indiana University Press, 2012), a collection of 30 essays spanning his career on topics from his Midwestern background, his father’s drinking and his opposition to war, to climate change, the ideology of consumerism and the meaning of sustainability. Throughout, he asks: What is a good life? How do family and culture shape a person's character? How should we treat one another and the Earth?

His other recent works of nonfiction include “A Conservationist Manifesto” (Indiana University Press, 2009), “A Private History of Awe” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006) and “The Force of Spirit” (Beacon Press, 2000). His novels include “The Invisible Company” (Tor Books, 1989) and “The Engineer of Beasts” (Orchard Books/Franklin Watts, 1988). Sanders has also written children’s books, including “Crawdad Creek” (National Geographic, 1999), “A Place Called Freedom” (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 1997), and “The Floating House” (Macmillan, 1995).

Among his honors are the Lannan Literary Award, the John Burroughs Essay Award, the Mark Twain Award, and the Cecil Woods Award for Nonfiction, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2010 he was named the National Winner of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University.

About the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture: Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College’s commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture. For more information, visit http://www.holycross.edu/mcfarlandcenter.

The 2011-12 Working Writers Series will continue throughout the spring semester with the following events:

• Thursday, March 28 – Danielle Evans will read selections from her fiction. • Thursday, April 12 – Andrew Solomon will perform a reading of his nonfiction, sponsored by the Jenks Chair of Contemporary American Letters.

The Working Writers Series was formerly known as the Visiting Writers Series.