{"id":7311,"date":"2021-09-24T15:29:20","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T15:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/wordpress\/lavie\/?p=7311"},"modified":"2021-09-24T15:29:20","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T15:29:20","slug":"from-pencil-to-published-lvc-welcomes-visiting-author-matt-bell-on-sept-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2021\/09\/24\/from-pencil-to-published-lvc-welcomes-visiting-author-matt-bell-on-sept-27\/","title":{"rendered":"From pencil to published: LVC welcomes visiting author Matt Bell on Sept. 27"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Angelica Fraine, \u201923 staff writer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folktale reigns as one of the oldest forms of fiction, passed down by screen, pencil and mouth, woven together to enrapture an audience and never let go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LVC\u2019s visiting writer, Matt Bell, is enthralled by the lure and lore of old fiction.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bell, an accomplished author of both fiction and nonfiction, recently released his latest novel, \u201cAppleseed.\u201d It\u2019s a riveting science fiction revision of the classic tale of pioneer Johnny Appleseed with woven effects of global climate change and industrial catastrophe, where the timelines of a Faun, a human and a clone brilliantly mold the fantastical and factual into one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved the folktale as a kid,\u201d Bell said, when asked how the idea for the novel was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bell explained he was on a run, listening to Michael Pollan\u2019s \u201cBotany of Desire,\u201d on the domestication of the apple, when he envisioned a Faun running through the woods, scattering apple seeds left and right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs soon as I started writing, the relationship between the human and the nonhuman began to suggest itself to me,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the content revealed itself to him over the course of three-and-a-half years and two drafts, but Bell kept with the idea because it never ceased to excite him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go wrong with a fairytale retelling,\u201d Bell said. \u201cIt\u2019s inexhaustible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside his career as an author, Bell teaches creative writing classes at Arizona State University, extending his knowledge of the craft to younger generations. He believes college students are so used to the expectation that they must present themselves as grounded in literal intelligence, they never allow themselves time to explore creative endeavors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much of our life we spend trying to fit in,\u201d Bell said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have our uniqueness highlighted instead. I think anybody has the talent and the experience to become a writer if they want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His goal as an instructor is to help students find ways to value what they bring to the page on their own and encourage them to be playful and brave in their writing. His classes are also open to non-majors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt Bell will be a guest speaker for LVC\u2019s Writing: A Life series on Monday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Registration<\/a> is required for the event.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Angelica Fraine, \u201923 staff writer Folktale reigns as one of the oldest forms of fiction, passed down by screen, pencil and mouth, woven together to enrapture an audience and never let go. LVC\u2019s visiting […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7311","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=7311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}