SUNY Canton Welcomes Back Author Chris Fink for Living Writers Series

A Wisconsin-based author who just released a book of short stories about ordinary antiheros and the moments that define them will visit campus this month as part of the popular Living Writers Series.

Chris Fink will read from his new book, “Add This to the List of Things That You Are,” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23 in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center’s Kingston Theater.

Pictured (l to r) are Associate Professor Phil LaMarche, author Chris Fink, and NCPR Station Manager Mitch Teich.

“Chris Fink’s work tackles all the beauty and tragedy that rural America has to offer,” said Living Writers Series creator and Associate Professor Phil K. LaMarche. “His stories will be both shocking and familiar to residents of the North Country, and his writing is both timeless and entirely relevant to our current cultural moment. Please join us to hear stories from Wisconsin that are right at home here in St. Lawrence County.”    

Fink was recently profiled by the National Book Review, where he talks about growing up in Wisconsin and the small towns that inspired his writing.

“I had an intensely rural childhood and adolescence … this was the place that I knew about with the kind of intimacy you need to write fiction,” Fink said. “Also, the fact that the Midwest is overlooked, is a flyover place, a kind of nowhere place, etc. That appeals to my oppositional nature. The rural Midwest might be undesirable in popular culture, but it’s not exactly ‘terra incognita.’”

Following the reading, North Country Public Radio’s Station Manager Mitch Teich will lead a question-and-answer session with the audience.

“Having recently moved here from Wisconsin, I’m eager to explore what Chris sees as the commonalities in the rural experience in America, no matter what the zip code,” said Teich.

Fink previously visited the college in 2013 to promote his first short story collection, “Farmer’s Almanac: A Work of Fiction.” He is a professor of English and Environmental Studies at Beloit College and editor in chief of the Beloit Fiction Journal. He is also a regular contributor to Northern Public Radio, where he produces monthly essays about the intersection of the self and the natural world. 

In November, SUNY Canton will welcome back another Living Writers Series alum, Santee Frazier, who will speak at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20. His new book of poems, “Aurum,” will be published this fall.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information check out the Living Writers website.