Religion Resource Guide  Tags: religion quaker esr bethany  

Earlham School of Religion (ESR) is hosting its Ministry of Writing: An Annual Colloquium on Friday, October 30-Saturday, October 31, 2009. To read more about the colloquium or to register to attend, please click here.

During the colloquium a number of wonderful authors will be leading workshops: poets Julia Kasdorf and David Shumate, novelists Steven Cleaver and Marsena Konkle, spiritual writer Rabbi Rami Shapiro, and children's author and storyteller Patty Willis.

Be sure to stop by Lilly Library to check out books by these writers--and other books by ESR graduates and professors--on display on the main floor.

Here is a selection of books by current and past ESR faculty members. All books are in the main collection, unless otherwise noted. To find more, search our library catalog.

Julia Spicher Kasdorf has published two books of poetry, a collection of essays, and a biography, as well as co-edited a collection of poems about Brooklyn.  An associate professor of English and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University, she teaches in the MFA program in creative writing.

Steven Cleaver is the author of Saving Erasmus (Paraclete Press, 2007), named Best Christian Fiction of 2007 by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Independent Publishers. Cleaver was named an Original Voice by Borders Books. He has self published a book of poetry, Dear God, or Whatever Your Name is Now (Lulu.com, 2008). He is also a satisfied graduate of ESR’s Ministry of Writing Program. His website is www.savingerasmus.com.

Marsena Konkle is the author of the novel A Dark Oval Stone (Paraclete Press, 2006), a finalist in the 2004 Paraclete Fiction Contest. An excerpt of the novel was published in Brett Lott’s The Best Christian Short Stories (WestBow 2006). She is also the author of a screenplay, The Bridge, currently in production. She has an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, and lives in the Chicago area.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro is an award winning author, poet, essayist, and educator. A congregational rabbi for 20 years, he currently teaches Religious Studies at Middle Tennessee State University, and writes a regular column for Spirituality and Health magazine called Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler. His most recent books, all from Skylight Press, are Recovery, the Sacred Art (2009), The Divine Feminine (2005), and The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness (2006).

David Shumate is the author of High Water Mark (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004), winner of the 2003 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize and the 2004 Best Books of Indiana, poetry category. His second collection of prose poems, The Floating Bridge, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2008. His poetry has appeared widely in literary journals and has been anthologized in The Writer’s Almanac, Good Poems for Hard Times and The Best American Poetry 2007. He is the recipient of a 2009 NEA Poetry Fellowship. He teaches at Marian College in Indianapolis.

Patty Christiena Willis is known in Japan for her youth novel The Village Above the Stars, published in Japanese and recommended reading by the Library Association of Japan. Her theater work has been performed at international festivals in Edinburgh, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Los Angeles and New York. Her play Yugetsu received a national playwriting award. Her work was celebrated in an award-winning television documentary. Patty is currently a second year ESR student.