Ouachita to host Andy Davidson in fiction reading Sept. 29
September 22, 2016 - Brooke Zimny
Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Language and Literature will host author
Andy Davidson in a reading of his debut novel, In the Valley of the Sun, on Thursday, Sept. 29. The reading, which is free and open to the public, will be
held at 7 p.m. in Hickingbotham Hall’s Young Auditorium on Ouachita’s campus.
Davidson, a 2000 Ouachita graduate, currently teaches English at Middle Georgia State
University in Cochran, Ga., in addition to his work as an author. He earned a Master
of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Mississippi.
“We are delighted to welcome back to campus, 16 years after graduation, an alumnus
who was not only a fine student worker for our department but a superb English major
who was committed to the craft of a writer from his earliest days with us, submitting
for his thesis for the Carl Goodson Honors Program a novel of over 300 pages and heading
straight to the University of Mississippi's distinguished creative writing program,”
noted Dr. Jay Curlin, OBU’s Kathryn Maddox Professor of English.
“Our students should be inspired to hear a Ouachita graduate who has remained devoted
to his craft throughout the years since,” he added, “following that early undergraduate dream
with such commitment that we are just a few months away from the publication of his
most recent novel.”
In the Valley of the Sun, a horror novel, is expected to be released June 6, 2017, by Skyhorse Publishing.
“The book is about a very human subject: family,” Davidson said. “It’s a story about
four lonely, damaged souls who find each other in the worst possible circumstances,
all of them victims of grief or loss or trauma of some kind.
“Horror is about what we’re afraid of, and there’s usually nothing we’re more afraid
of, as people, than being alone,” he added. “So the genre, in a way, lets us explore
themes like loss and grief or loneliness in a way that really gets right to the heart
of what we want, which is to not be afraid of those things. So with scary stories,
we get to excise those kinds of fears through catharsis, but we also get to see their
effects in a way that maybe helps us understand our own fears better.”
On being invited to return to his alma mater to speak, Davidson said, “I couldn’t
be more honored. The very first class I ever took in creative writing was as an English
major here. I’ve worked in academia ever since I left OBU, as a student, a writer
and as a teacher, and I’ve always been reminded over the years how very special the
professors here are. In almost all things, I’ve aspired to be like them. They’re lifelong
friends.”
For more information on OBU’s Department of Language and Literature, contact Dr. Doug
Sonheim, chair, at [email protected] or (870) 245-5554. For more information on Andy Davidson, visit his website, theandydavidson.com, or follow him on Twitter at @theandydavidson.
By Brooke Zimny
September 22, 2016
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