SMYRNA -- Vanderbilt University Writer-in-Residence Odie Lindsey will discuss the creative and publishing process behind his new novel, “Some Go Home” (W.W. Norton, 2020), during a Zoom session from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 1 (Thursday).
Lindsey will be the first featured speaker for this fall’s “Famous Communicator Speakers Series” at Motlow State Community College. The U.S. Army veteran is calling his talk “War, Research and Writing the Novel ‘Some Go Home.’”
“I will explain how my combat deployment has influenced the writing process,” said Lindsey, who served the country during Desert Storm in the early 1990s.
Lindsey’s talk is open to Motlow students, faculty, administrators and staff. To attend the Zoom session (9:30 a.m. on Oct. 1), visit https://mscc.zoom.us/j/94032042039. For more information about the “Famous Communicator Speakers Series,” contact Professor Charles Whiting at cwhiting@mscc.edu.
Lindsey wrote his novel while balancing a busy teaching schedule at Vanderbilt with tedious research and a writing sabbatical in Italy. His book is receiving praise from fellow authors and critics across the nation. Students and others will have the opportunity to learn how a book is written, edited, pitched, published and promoted.
“I’ll also share some of the challenges I’ve had promoting a creative work during a pandemic," the Nashville author said.
Lindsey, who visited a host of independent bookstores for his first book, “We Come to Our Senses,” is finding creative ways to use Zoom and other virtual platforms to share his story.
“Some Go Home” is a searing story that follows three generations fractured by murder in fictional Pitchlynn, Mississippi, that complicates notions of race, class, history and identity.
His book of short stories, “We Come to Our Senses,” was included on Best of 2016 lists at Electric Literature and Military Times, and the New York Times Book Review noted that it “captures our culture now.”
Lindsey’s fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Iowa Review, Guernica, Fourteen Hills, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, and elsewhere, and his nonfiction publications include Oxford American, The Millions, Columbia, LitHub, and the Southwest Review.
He received an NEA-funded fellowship for veterans to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a Tennessee Arts Commission fellowship in Literature. A Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University’s Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, Lindsey holds a Master of Fine Arts in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Master of Arts in southern studies from the University of Mississippi. He served as associate editor of “The Mississippi Encyclopedia” (University Press of Mississippi).
The “Famous Communicators Speakers Series” was launched at Motlow several years ago to give students the opportunity to learn from some of the most successful communication professionals in Middle Tennessee. Other upcoming speakers include singer-songwriter-musician-recording engineer Bryan Cumming (Oct. 20) and internationally known visual artist Camille Engel (November - date TBA).
