Lawrence University will host visits by three authors and a book artist in conjunction with the 7th annual Fox Cities Book Festival. All events are free and open to the public. Lawrence is one of the sponsors of the annual festival.
David Rhodes, whose five novels have each received national acclaim, reads Monday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Rhodes’ most recent novel, “Jewelweed,” centers around the residents of a small Wisconsin town who are trying to come to grips with their problems and make their way in the community. Booklist hailed it as a “many-faceted novel of profound dilemmas, survival, and gratitude.”
Book artist Shawn Sheehy appears Thursday, April 10 at 4:30 in the Wriston Art Center. Sheehy, whose limited-edition pop-up books combine paper engineering with an interest in biology and cultural evolution, uses his work to “exploit the expressive potential of a book’s structure.” Sheehy also teaches paper engineering workshops throughout the country. His work is featured in the current exhibition at Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center galleries.
Authors Bruce Machart and Matthew Batt discuss the use of scene and exposition in a craft talk on fiction and creative nonfiction Friday, April 11 at 4 p.m. in the Pusey Room in the Warch Campus Center.
Machart has written a collection of 10 short stories — “Men in the Making” — as well as the award-winning novel “The Wake of Forgiveness,” which was named to several top 10 lists in 2010.
Batt’s work has been featured in the New Yorker, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and the Huffington Post. He is the author of “Sugarhouse,” a memoir that chronicles his experience and personal growth while renovating a Salt Lake City crack house. A professor of English at Minnesota’s University of St. Thomas, he is currently finishing a collection of essays as well as a new novel.
About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.
