The Butler MFA event series, conversations@efroymson, celebrated MFA professor Chris Forhan’s new book, My Father Before Me, with a book party. The evening including a reading, Q & A, a dessert and coffee bar, and excellent conversation. In her introduction of Forhan, Mindy Dunn said, “With compassion and age-earned sympathy, Forhan discovers there may not be a dramatic answer to the twin riddles of suicide and identity, but that poetry—or writing a memoir—can allow him to turn the reticence he inherited into a most deliberate communication.”

Before Forhan read selections of his memoir he addressed the audience of writers. He discussed his motives and challenges of moving genres. When he first began the memoir, the poet thought writing prose was easy. He quickly realized the obstacles he faced. Thanking his colleagues for their help and advice, Forhan said he learned to write in a whole new way. “I had to think on the page,” he said.

Although his memoir is largely about his father and the aftermath of his suicide, Forhan read selections on writing. The audience found it humorous, laughing along with Forhan’s depiction of himself as a high school student dreaming of being a poet.

The next conversations@efroymson event will be Poetry Lunch Hour this Friday at 12:30. Email Mindy to RSVP.

The Butler MFA event series, conversations@efroymson, celebrated MFA professor Chris Forhan’s new book, My Father Before Me, with a book party. The evening including a reading, Q & A, a dessert and coffee bar, and excellent conversation. In her introduction of Forhan, Mindy Dunn said, “With compassion and age-earned sympathy, Forhan discovers there may not be a dramatic answer to the twin riddles of suicide and identity, but that poetry—or writing a memoir—can allow him to turn the reticence he inherited into a most deliberate communication.”

Before Forhan read selections of his memoir he addressed the audience of writers. He discussed his motives and challenges of moving genres. When he first began the memoir, the poet thought writing prose was easy. He quickly realized the obstacles he faced. Thanking his colleagues for their help and advice, Forhan said he learned to write in a whole new way. “I had to think on the page,” he said.

Although his memoir is largely about his father and the aftermath of his suicide, Forhan read selections on writing. The audience found it humorous, laughing along with Forhan’s depiction of himself as a high school student dreaming of being a poet.

The next conversations@efroymson event will be Poetry Lunch Hour this Friday at 12:30. Email Mindy to RSVP.