Essayist and creative writing professor John D’Agata describes the essay as “an art form that tracks the evolution of consciousness as it rolls over the folds of a new idea, memory, or emotion.”
D’Agata, M.F.A., of the University of Iowa, will present two free events Feb. 21 at Ohio Wesleyan University: a writing salon at 12:10 p.m. in Sturges Hall, 85 S. Sandusky St., Delaware, and a reading from his works at 4:10 p.m. in Room 301 of Merrick Hall, 65 S. Sandusky St.
In discussing the essay with Susan Steinberg of ElectronicLit.com, D’Agata said: “What I’ve always appreciated about the essay is the feeling that it gives me that it’s capturing that activity of human thought in real time. I think that feeling is what we all respond to in essays: the sense of intimacy that essays give us when we’re made to feel privy to another human being’s thought process.”
D’Agata is the author of “Halls of Fame,” “About a Mountain,” and “The Lifespan of a Fact,” as well as the editor of the three-volume series “A New History of the Essay,” which includes the anthologies “The Next American Essay,” “The Making of the American Essay,” and “The Lost Origins of the Essay.”
In the forward of “A New History of the Essay,” critic James Wood writes, “For well over a decade now, John D’Agata has been the renovator-in-chief of the American Essay.”
He is recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the Lannan Foundation Fellowship. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hobart College and two Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Iowa, where he directs the graduate nonfiction writing program. Learn more about him at www.johndagata.com.
D’Agata’s visit is sponsored by the OWU Poets & Writers Reading Series and the Department of English. Learn more about the department and its creative writing concentration at www.owu.edu/english.
