Crosswind Represents First Step for Author
Laurinburg, NC, February 25, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Writing is a process and for Alan Bunn Memorial Chapbook winner Lisa Garber the publication of Crosswind is a baby-step in the direction of sharing a larger story.
“Crosswind is a fictional piece with a fervent desire at its heart to spread the truth,” said the senior creative writing major. “Crosswind is my first of many attempts to make sure that history is remembered as it happened, not how the victors write it.”
The manuscript was selected for the Alan Bunn Memorial Chapbook Award by judges Beth Copeland and John Lawson.
“Not a word is wasted, not a single breath, as she ‘translates’ between the living and the dead, speaking for those whose letters are lost and whose stories have not been told,” Copeland wrote.
Winning this competition came as a great surprise to Garber, who has been writing as long as she can remember.
“I was speechless,” said Garber. “I never thought in a million years that I had a chance.”
The poets she competed against, along with her St. Andrews professors, have encouraged her to try the genre, but her heart remains “set on fiction.”
“My father, a former Marine, now works for the government and works often with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces,” Garber said.
“Crosswind is loosely based on my father’s friend’s life, although his personality is my own creation,” she said. “I interviewed him before writing this short story and have since then promised him and other survivors whom I’ve met and interviewed that I would write a book in their memory and honor. That’s literally another story. This is a baby step toward that goal.”
Garber’s family still lives in Japan and Crosswind also shares a perspective very close to her heart.
Her parents were also instrumental in shaping her love of writing. “My father would read a lot of classic Western literature to me before bed until an embarrassing age,” Garber said. “If he was late from work, my mother would read me Japanese folk tales. I’ve always enjoyed stories of all kinds and don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t writing one.”
Her writing will continue with further exploration of the theme of Crosswind.
“I promised my new friends in Nagoya, Japan, at a reunion of Kamikaze pilots and suicide submariners that I would convey a certain point to the American audience,” Garber said. “They’re worried over some comments made recently by American scholars that compare the suicide squadrons of Japan with fanatic terrorists of the 21st Century, namely those who brought down the twin towers in New York in 2001.
“This is unfair because the suicide squadrons never once targeted civilians. Even Pearl Harbor was a military attack incomparable to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians just to make a point to watchful Russia. It is true, however, that the Imperial Japanese government lied to its population so thoroughly and for so long that they believed, among many things, that dying for their country was the only way to go.”
Copies of the book are expected to be available for purchase in mid-April. They can be ordered via email press@sapc.edu, phone 910-277-5310 or by mail at St. Andrews College Press, 1700 Dogwood Mile, Laurinburg. N.C. 28352.
About St. Andrews Presbyterian College
An innovative and bold academic venture to an interdisciplinary curriculum, a highly acclaimed college press, an award-winning pipe band, national champion equestrian teams, and first-rate scholarship have marked the distinctive character of St. Andrews. In addition to classes on the main campus, adult learners also choose the Center for Adult and Professional Studies opportunities through St. Andrews @ Sandhills and St. Andrews Online.
On Aug. 29, 1958, the merger between Presbyterian Junior College and Flora Macdonald College became official with the formation St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. Further information may be obtained by visiting the College's website www.sapc.edu, calling 800-763-0198 or sending an e-mail to info@sapc.edu.
About The Learning House, Inc.
In early 2008, St. Andrews Presbyterian College initiated a partnership with The Learning House, Inc. to assist in the development and unveiling of its online campus. The Learning House is a comprehensive online education solutions partner that helps colleges and universities offer and manage their online education programs. The company provides a total online campus solution to each of its clients, including online course development and publishing, learning management system customization and hosting, online program marketing, 24/7 technology support, faculty and staff training, online education infrastructure and consulting. The Learning House provides online learning services to more than 60 accredited institutions of higher education. For more information about the company, please visit www.learninghouse.com.
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“Crosswind is a fictional piece with a fervent desire at its heart to spread the truth,” said the senior creative writing major. “Crosswind is my first of many attempts to make sure that history is remembered as it happened, not how the victors write it.”
The manuscript was selected for the Alan Bunn Memorial Chapbook Award by judges Beth Copeland and John Lawson.
“Not a word is wasted, not a single breath, as she ‘translates’ between the living and the dead, speaking for those whose letters are lost and whose stories have not been told,” Copeland wrote.
Winning this competition came as a great surprise to Garber, who has been writing as long as she can remember.
“I was speechless,” said Garber. “I never thought in a million years that I had a chance.”
The poets she competed against, along with her St. Andrews professors, have encouraged her to try the genre, but her heart remains “set on fiction.”
“My father, a former Marine, now works for the government and works often with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces,” Garber said.
“Crosswind is loosely based on my father’s friend’s life, although his personality is my own creation,” she said. “I interviewed him before writing this short story and have since then promised him and other survivors whom I’ve met and interviewed that I would write a book in their memory and honor. That’s literally another story. This is a baby step toward that goal.”
Garber’s family still lives in Japan and Crosswind also shares a perspective very close to her heart.
Her parents were also instrumental in shaping her love of writing. “My father would read a lot of classic Western literature to me before bed until an embarrassing age,” Garber said. “If he was late from work, my mother would read me Japanese folk tales. I’ve always enjoyed stories of all kinds and don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t writing one.”
Her writing will continue with further exploration of the theme of Crosswind.
“I promised my new friends in Nagoya, Japan, at a reunion of Kamikaze pilots and suicide submariners that I would convey a certain point to the American audience,” Garber said. “They’re worried over some comments made recently by American scholars that compare the suicide squadrons of Japan with fanatic terrorists of the 21st Century, namely those who brought down the twin towers in New York in 2001.
“This is unfair because the suicide squadrons never once targeted civilians. Even Pearl Harbor was a military attack incomparable to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians just to make a point to watchful Russia. It is true, however, that the Imperial Japanese government lied to its population so thoroughly and for so long that they believed, among many things, that dying for their country was the only way to go.”
Copies of the book are expected to be available for purchase in mid-April. They can be ordered via email press@sapc.edu, phone 910-277-5310 or by mail at St. Andrews College Press, 1700 Dogwood Mile, Laurinburg. N.C. 28352.
About St. Andrews Presbyterian College
An innovative and bold academic venture to an interdisciplinary curriculum, a highly acclaimed college press, an award-winning pipe band, national champion equestrian teams, and first-rate scholarship have marked the distinctive character of St. Andrews. In addition to classes on the main campus, adult learners also choose the Center for Adult and Professional Studies opportunities through St. Andrews @ Sandhills and St. Andrews Online.
On Aug. 29, 1958, the merger between Presbyterian Junior College and Flora Macdonald College became official with the formation St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. Further information may be obtained by visiting the College's website www.sapc.edu, calling 800-763-0198 or sending an e-mail to info@sapc.edu.
About The Learning House, Inc.
In early 2008, St. Andrews Presbyterian College initiated a partnership with The Learning House, Inc. to assist in the development and unveiling of its online campus. The Learning House is a comprehensive online education solutions partner that helps colleges and universities offer and manage their online education programs. The company provides a total online campus solution to each of its clients, including online course development and publishing, learning management system customization and hosting, online program marketing, 24/7 technology support, faculty and staff training, online education infrastructure and consulting. The Learning House provides online learning services to more than 60 accredited institutions of higher education. For more information about the company, please visit www.learninghouse.com.
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Contact
The Learning House, Inc.
Jan Hurst
502-589-9878
www.elearnportal.com/sapc
Jan Hurst
502-589-9878
www.elearnportal.com/sapc
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