Nora Shalaway Carpenter, editor of this year’s All Bonaventure Reads book, will visit campus and address St. Bonaventure’s first-year students at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, in the Reilly Center Arena.
In the all-campus read, “Rural Voices,” 15 authors challenge stereotypes of small-town America. The authors, — diverse in ethnic background, sexual orientation, geographic location, and socioeconomic status — explore growing up in rural America through an array of short stories, poetry, graphic short stories and personal essays.
The title of Carpenter’s address is “RURAL VOICES: The creation of an acclaimed anthology and lessons learned along the way.”
The Oct. 20 program is free and open to the public. Per state COVID protocols, masks are required in university buildings regardless of vaccine status. Immediately following her address, Carpenter will sign copies of the book in the lobby of the University Bookstore in the Reilly Center.
As the All Bonaventure Reads book for 2021-22, “Rural Voices” is the core text for SBU 101, a freshman seminar course.
“Rural Voices” was an NPR Best Book of 2020, a Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Best Fiction YA nominee, Country Living Magazine’s Front Porch Book Club selection, double Nautilus award winner, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
Carpenter earned an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a B.A. in English literature and humanities from Marshall University.
She is the author of the young adult contemporary novel “The Edge of Anything."
Her next anthology, “Ab(solutely) Normal,” is forthcoming from Candlewick and her next novel, “Fault Lines,” is forthcoming from Running Press Teen.
Before she wrote books, Carpenter worked as associate editor of Wonderful West Virginia magazine. Originally from rural West Virginia, she now lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, three young children, and the world’s most patient dog and cat. She is a vocal and passionate advocate for the normalization of mental health and the deconstruction of harmful stereotyping, particularly of rural people and places.
Connect with Carpenter at noracarpenterwrites.com or on Instagram @noracarpenterwrites.