Throughout the week Church will be working with OU graduate students, reading some of his best and latest works, and holding a colloquium on “an issue of interest” for creative nonfiction writers.
The concept of “creative nonfiction” sounds like an oxymoron, similar to “true fiction” or being “pretty ugly.” It is a field where author, essayist and professor Steven Church has carved out a niche.
Church has built a career in giving people the best of both literary worlds with his far-out personality and creativity, mixed with his deep-digging research and analytical skills. Church holds a master's in fine arts from Colorado State University and for the past 10 years has been teaching in the English department at California State University, Fresno.
Ohio University students are invited to a free engagement in Walter Hall Rotunda on Thursday night, during which Church will read from some of his most recently published works, including Ultrasonic, Theoretical Killings: Essays and Accidents and excerpts from his forthcoming fifth book, a memoir entitled Jumping Into the Cage: Encounters with the Savage and the Sublime. Following the event there will be a reception that is also free and open to the public.
“His work is often heavily research base, for instance, his piece on the process of hearing,” David Wanczyk, special events coordinator for the OU English Department, said. “But his personality rings out loud and clear. (Church) is one of the most prolific and respected creative nonfiction writers in the country and we’re thrilled to have him.”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="8af727da-9211-11e5-ab39-bb477aceb2c8"}}
This week Church will begin a two-day residency with OU’s creative writing program. Throughout the week he will be working with graduate students, reading some of his best and latest works, and holding a colloquium on “an issue of interest” for creative nonfiction writers.
“He's not afraid to wrestle with big questions or to draw on personal experience as a means of reckoning with them,” Eric LeMay, assistant professor in the English Department, said in an email. “That makes him a great example for young writers to encounter, because Church shows us how we can speak up smartly about what matters most to us.”
Even though Church is the founding editor and nonfiction editor for Literary Magazine at California State University, Fresno, he has managed to keep up with his craft in other ways, as well. In 2011 his essay “Auscultation” was chosen to be included in the 2011 Best American Essays.
“He tends to weave in the personal with really well-researched material whether it be historic or scientific,” •Thomas Tiberio, •special programs assistant for the English Department, said in an email. “He seems to put himself completely in communion with the subject matter.”
Wanczyk said students have the opportunity to learn from a “very cool” writer.
“I can promise his essays have that background research built into a really engaging personality.” Wanczyk said. “One of his previous books, The Guinness Book of Me, is a deep investment in figuring out how his mind works and how that relates to the writer culture.”
@broermazing
mb503414@ohio.edu
