USI students can relate with Midwestern author Chad Simpson’s short stories because they are often set in this region.
While not all readers can connect with living in the Midwest, all can relate to the very human experiences of loneliness, isolation and dislocation, and the desire to connect with others.
Simspon will kick off the spring semester by reading from his short story collection, “Tell Everyone I Said Hi,” for the RopeWalk Reading Series at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Traditions Lounge.
Simpson grew up in Monmouth, Ill., and Logansport, Ind., and has spent most of his life in the Midwest.
In January, Simpson won the 2012 John Simmons Short Fiction Award from the University of Iowa Press for “Tell Everyone I Said Hi.”
“I was ecstatic to receive the invitation to come and read as a part of RopeWalk,” Simpson said. “I actually remember the night I received the email: My wife and I had gone out for Mexican food, and we were drinking margaritas and eating chips and salsa when my phone buzzed. Some of my friends have been a part of RopeWalk over the years.”
Simpson said he couldn’t believe that he received USI’s RopeWalk invitation when his book was still months from being published.
“Writing is a pretty solitary activity,” Simpson said. “I love getting the chance to visit universities to give readings because it gets me out of my pajamas and gives me to the opportunity to share my work – work I care deeply about – with others.”
Simpson said he plans to read three or four short stories from his collection.
“I hope that the people who attend the event get a glimpse or two into the lives of characters who are both like and unlike them,” he said. “That they maybe begin to see the world they walk around in just a little bit differently. That’s perhaps a lofty goal, but it’s one of the primary reasons I write and read fiction.”
Senior English major Jon Haslam is currently a student in the RopeWalk class. He said he enjoys how the class gives him a behind-the-scenes view of RopeWalk, including the preparation of the event and direct communication with the authors.
Haslam said he looks forward to seeing the face behind the words and being exposed to new fiction that isn’t the typical Shakespearean, classroom text.
“You’re in a university setting, so you’re exposed to these types of writers coming in right now, but when you leave the university, what’s the likelihood you’ll be able to see someone like Chad Simpson read?” Haslam said. “Just the notation that we can bring in award-winning authors to this university and have them read, I think that’s really awesome. I think anybody who’s an undergrad should attend it.”
Associate Professor of English Nicole Reid, director of the RopeWalk series, said Simpson’s work is “absolutely amazing.”
“His stories range from funny to absolutely heartbreaking,” Reid said. “He wastes no time in getting to an important moment.”
Reid said she thinks he offers USI’s creative writing students the insight for technique while offering the public the enjoyment of listening to dramas unfold.
While there are currently three RopeWalk readings planned for this semester, Reid suggests it might progress into something more.
“There is some possibility that the reading series will transform into sort of a condensed, Thursday-through-Saturday, miniature lit fest,” Reid said. “We will see if that happens. It would be a poet, nonfiction writer, and a fiction writer, and students [would be working] with each of those in workshops and giving readings.”
The RopeWalk series for this semester will host two more authors following Simpson. Chloe Caldwell, author of “Legs Get Led Astray,” will come to USI in March, and Donald Ray Pollock, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, will present in April.
