“Writing: A Life” with Tara Stillions Whitehead

Tara Stillions Whitehead reads from "They More Than Burned."

(By Katherine Buerke ’26, staff writer) 

LVC’s “Writing: A Life” series welcomed author, teacher and filmmaker Tara Stillions Whitehead to campus this week.  

Stillions Whitehead is a California native who worked in the film industry before moving to central Pennsylvania. She is an assistant professor of film, video and digital media at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA, as well as an avid writer in multiple genres.  

Stillions Whitehead gave a reading of excerpts from her novels “They More Than Burned” and “The Year of the Monster” on Monday, Oct. 21, in the Bishop Library Atrium. 

Many of Stillions Whitehead’s works blur the lines between genres. Her latest novel, “They More Than Burned,” blends film scripts, interviews and prose to create a hybrid piece.  

“I find the liminal space and I put an anchor down,” Stillions Whitehead said. “You can write in multiple modes and be incredibly clear. If suddenly a story needs to turn into a film or screenplay, I’ll let it. And I try to subvert expectations in what a story can do, to find the story’s full potential.”  

Stillions Whitehead is an ardent advocate of writing programs like the “Writing: A Life” series.  

“Of all the kinds of public engagements, things like this are the most important to me,” she said. “It’s important for students to have access to writers. It humanizes the writing process.” 

The second “Writing: A Life” reading of the semester will host Emma Copley Eisenberg on Wednesday, Oct. 30, in the Bishop Library Atrium starting at 7 p.m.