Bookstore Readings at Homecoming
Gordon and Barrington authors will share excerpts from their recent publications during Homecoming 2015. A book signing with Dr. Valerie Gin starting at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 3 in the Homecoming Welcome Tent will start the day's literary activities. Come to the Gordon College Bookstore at 1 p.m. to hear the other authors (below).
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11:30 a.m –1 p.m. Book signing at Welcome Tent: Dr. Valerie Gin
Dr. Valerie Gin, professor of kinesiology, will sign copies of her novel, When Girls Became Lions (co-written with Jo Kadlecek). Set in 1983 and 2008, the novel captures the impact Title IX legislation had on one Midwestern town and celebrates women’s friendships against the backdrop of sport history. It is a story for everyone—from soccer dads and college coaches to professional athletes, high school competitors and the many women and men who support them.
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1 p.m.: Shirley and Rudy Nelson
Barrington alumni Shirley and Rudy Nelson will read a selection from The Risk of Returning (Wipf and Stock, 2014), their co-written novel set in Guatemala in the 1980s. Ted Peterson, son of former missionaries to Guatemala, returns to that country to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Caught up in a culture of violence and deadly secrets, what he learns is as much about himself as his father.
The Nelsons will also show a key scene from their documentary Precarious Peace: God and Guatemala. They are happy to answer your questions about the book, the documentary, how to survive over 60 years of marriage and collaboration—or just about anything else.
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2 p.m.: Bryan Parys '04
Bryan will read a preview from his memoir, Wake, Sleeper (Cascade Books), which will be released this fall. Bryan is a writer/editor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He also teaches creative writing at Gordon, and writes the biannual Sporks column for STILLPOINT magazine. He holds an M.F.A. from the University of New Hampshire.
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2:30 p.m.: Dr. Mary Riso
Hot off the press, Mary Riso's new book, The Narrative of the Good Death (Ashgate, 2015), looks at the changing attitudes toward death and the afterlife among nineteenth-century evangelicals. Mary is the program coordinator for the Department of Education at Gordon.