AUTOGRAPH SERIES

The Autograph Series presents writers of national or international stature each spring and fall. Each Autograph writer gives a free public reading, followed by audience Q&A. The following day, the writer appears at a ticketed luncheon colloquium, featuring an interview, Q&A, and performed excerpts from the writer’s work. A master workshop, a world-class opportunity for area writers and students, caps each visit. Previous Autograph Series writers include Annie Proulx, Margaret Atwood, Ernest Gaines, Grace Paley, Tim O’Brien, Edward P. Jones, Mary Gordon and Philip Levine.

Fall 2007 Autograph Series

Dr. Coleen Grissom: A Novel Approach to Life

Public Talk Followed by Q&A
Thursday, October 25, 7 pm
Chapman Auditorium
Trinity University
715 Stadium Drive
General Admission Seating
Free and Open to the Public
Click here for map and parking info.

Colloquium/Luncheon
Friday, October 26, noon
The Historic Pearl Stable
312 Pearl Parkway
Call Gemini Ink to reserve
$50/seat; $350/table of eight

Coleen Grissom has made grown men and women to weep. Not that she’s mean — though she also has been know to be somewhat acerbic on occasion. No, Dr. Grissom brings people to tears because: A) she has insights about writing that go deeply to those human places where weeping is inescapable, and B) she is hellaciously funny while taking us there. A professor of English at Trinity University, she has served that institution since 1958 in administrative and teaching roles. As a faculty member of for more than 45 years, she’s received “honorary alumna status” as well as a scholarship named in her honor. She teaches two courses to entering students, as well as an advanced contemporary literature class. Upon her retirement from a vice presidency in 2000, she devoted herself to teaching both at Trinity and Gemini Ink. She loves, not necessarily in this order: reading, teaching, living in the hill country, toy poodles, indoor cats, salt and fresh water fish, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and birds. She is less fond of untamed carnivores and blue herons. On academic leave from Trinity this fall, she is preparing a collection of her speeches for Trinity University Press publication in late 2008.

"After college, unless you’re a teacher, why should you continue to read fiction? Well, I read much contemporary fiction because I’m interested in new approaches and experimentations with old approaches, and I read contemporary fiction because it informs, engages, entertains, and delights me. I almost never read for escape – except in the summer, especially if I go to the beach where I read trashy paperback mysteries with lines such as, 'The autopsy revealed that the child’s ears had been removed before she was killed.' I never remember anything about these books of their plots, characters, themes, or imagery. I just read for fun and am totally absorbed, flipping page after page only occasionally pausing to experience a moment of utter revulsion at some graphically described violence. Only if someone injures a dog or a cat do I tend to toss the book away before finishing it. Generally, I persevere through all novels I begin."

—Coleen Grissom, in a speech to alumni