{"id":6828,"date":"2021-02-28T21:41:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T21:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/wordpress\/lavie\/?p=6828"},"modified":"2021-02-28T21:41:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T21:41:27","slug":"curtis-smith-and-the-magpies-return-for-lvcs-writing-a-life-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2021\/02\/28\/curtis-smith-and-the-magpies-return-for-lvcs-writing-a-life-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtis Smith and \u201cThe Magpie\u2019s Return\u201d for LVC\u2019s Writing: A Life series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Photo provided by Curtis Smith<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By: Alexandra Gonzalez \u201923, staff writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curtis Smith, LVC adjunct professor and author of more than 100 published stories and essays, is one of two writers who will visit the LVC campus community this spring as part of the Writing: A Life series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be a public reading via Zoom on March 1, at 7 p.m., where Smith will read an excerpt from his fifth novel and 13th book, \u201cThe Magpie\u2019s Return.\u201d The reading will be available to LVC students, staff, faculty and the larger community. Smith will visit classes virtually on March 2, from 12:30-1:50 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith started writing \u201cThe Magpie\u2019s Return\u201d in response to the events happening in Syria about five or six years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought about how we can sometimes look at something so awful and then go about our business because the people don\u2019t look like us or they\u2019re so far away or they don\u2019t speak our language or they practice a different religion,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI wanted to write a story about an American girl lost in that kind of chaos and upheaval \u2013 and perhaps have it resonated with readers because the characters and background are more relatable. \u2026 And fiction is a vehicle that can make us care in a way other mediums can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The novel\u2019s main character, Kayla, is a genius whose intellect is both a blessing and a curse. Another recent novel by Smith, \u201cLovepain,\u201d focuses on a father\u2019s relationship with his son amid intensive familial chaos.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurtis Smith has a real skill for bringing his characters to life, no matter who those characters are,\u201d Dr. Holly M. Wendt, associate professor of English, director of creative writing and director of Writing: A Life, said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to his own creative work, Smith is an extremely involved literary citizen. He is the interviews editor at JMWW journal, which has published nearly 50 reviews and interviews since 2015. Smith himself has written interviews with well over 100 authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be where I am in this field \u2013 editors and publishers have been very good to me \u2013 and I feel the need to give back, to help sustain the whole system that has lifted up me and my work,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His participation in the Writing: A Life series is one more act of literary citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series started in 2016, originally funded by the President\u2019s Innovation Fund. Wendt and Dr. Cathy Romagnolo, professor of English, who was the English Department Chair at the time, co-sponsored the grant application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we submitted the proposal, we were looking for a way to make our visiting writers\u2019 series distinctive and to use it to offer students in creative writing and English something really special: a chance to meet one-on-one with the writer in residence to conference on the students\u2019 own work,\u201d Wendt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series strives to bring one writer in residence and three additional accomplished writers to campus each academic year for class visits, workshops and readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first visiting writer and writer in residence was Nina McConigley, author of the story collection \u201cCowboys and East Indians.\u201d LVC graduate Adam Tavel, poets Adrian Matejka and Aracelis Girmay, and former dancer and essayist Rene\u00e9 E. d\u2019Aoust are among the accomplished writers who have visited campus since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the purposes of Writing: A Life, I am defining \u2018accomplished writers\u2019 as writers who can provide a panoply of experiential and artistic knowledge in the context of a teaching environment,\u201d Wendt said. \u201cAnother crucial piece of the puzzle is that the art the writers create feels alive and engage with the world and the literary landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Walters, a junior English and creative writing major, is the series\u2019 student assistant director this year. The series is currently funded by Academic Affairs and Provost Cowart\u2019s office. The Department of Humanities and Marketing & Communications provides the series with administrative and advertising support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of \u201cWorld of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments,\u201d which was the Barnes & Noble Book of the Year 2020, will also visit the campus community this spring. She will read from her work on March 16 at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curtis Smith, LVC adjunct professor and author of more than 100 published stories and essays, is one of two writers who will visit the LVC campus community this spring as part of the Writing: A Life series. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-campus-news","7":"category-front-page","8":"category-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}