Literary Event on Campus

I very much enjoy attending literary events at the University of San Francisco, the campus where I teach. Two days ago, in the late afternoon, I had the pleasure of hearing three faculty writers from our university reading from their new books. Tracy Seeley read from "My Ruby Slippers: The Road Back to Kansas"; Ryan Van Meter read from "If You Knew Then What I Know Now"; and Lisa Catherine Harper read from "A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood." All three said in their introductory remarks that their books were hard to classify; they seemed to fall under the umbrella of creative nonfiction, with elements of memoir and other genres. The three books are very different in subject matter and style, yet they share strong personal voices and compelling prose. Besides enjoying and savoring the readings themselves, I liked looking around at the others in the audience, especially the students, and seeing them respond with pleasure to the readings. The sense of shared pleasure was enhanced by the light pouring in through the many tall windows, as well as by the refreshments served; these elements added to the atmosphere of celebrating literature, especially literature created by our very own colleagues/professors. And to think that I only had to walk a few steps from my office to enjoy this literary experience!