Southern Vermont College Presents Award-Winning Author Andre Dubus III on Writing the Memoir

March 4, 2012

Andre Dubus III, award-winning author and professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, spoke about his most recent book, Townie, his story of growing up in a tough mill town, and the art of writing the memoir on Tuesday, April 3, in the Everett Theatre on campus. The event, the final talk in Southern Vermont College’s Inspiring History: Shaping the Future lecture series, was free and open to the public and was followed by a reception and booksigning with the author in the Burgdorff Gallery.

In Townie, Dubus writes about suffering and bullying (from being bullied to using developed physical strength to combat the bullies) and also about compassion (re-establishing family bonds and pursuing those activities that bring one inner peace and happiness). In the lecture, “On Being a Townie: Writing the Memoir,” Dubus III discussed what makes writing so alluring for him and so special a craft to refine. He referenced writers who are models, including his father, Andre Dubus, a contemporary master of the short story. This was the second time Andre Dubus III has visited Southern Vermont College (SVC); in 2009, he was the keynote speaker and received an honorary degree at SVC’s Commencement.

Dubus III is the award-winning author of The Cage Keeper and Other Stories, Bluesman, House of Sand and Fog, and Garden of Last Days. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for fiction, The Pushcart Prize, and was a Finalist for the Prix de Rome Fellowship from the Academy of Arts and Letters. A member of PEN American Center and the Executive Board of PEN New England, Dubus III has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and has taught writing at Harvard University, Tufts University, Emerson College, and now the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.