Award Winning Author Andy Duncan Visits Peru State College

Author Andy Duncan Visits Peru State College

On September 27 and 28, World Fantasy and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award winning author Andy Duncan visited Peru State College.  The Creative Writers Series and College 101 sponsored Andy's visit.

Andy Duncan is the author of the hilarious Alabama Curiosities, Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities; Other Offbeat Stuff, Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic, an anthology co-edited with F. Brett Cox, and two collections of short stories:  Beluthahatchie and Other Stories and the recently published collection The Pottawatomie Giant, short stories students in my section of College 101 presently enjoy.

After I picked Andy up at the airport in Omaha, we visited a fun restaurant, Peru Mucho Gusto; the chef has visited Peru, NE, a couple times when television crews came to our town from Lima, Peru.  

He supplied the "Sheriff" of Peru with Picarones Peruanos.  Oh, and the restaurant offers excellent food.  We shared Palata Rellena (avacado and chicken), Ceviche, and Arroza Con Mariscos, a delicious  rice and fish dish from Peru.

Andy began his Thursday in the College Library, where near the fireplace he read from a story from The Pottawatomie Giant, "Close Encounters," part of which you can watch in the short video--to enjoy the entire story, get the book in the College Book Store.

 Andy Duncan with Students in the PSC Library

After lunch, Andy, who teaches Journalism at Frostburg State University in the Maryland mountains, visited Kristi Nies' Journalism Class.  Andy talked about the profession and read from his collection of non fiction essays collected in Alabama Curiosities.  

 Andy Duncan and Kristi Nies' Journalism Class

Thursday afternoon, to Andy's delight, we drove to Kansas City and visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a fabulous place.  There, in addition to the spectacular and informative exhibits, we also talked a while with Raymond Doswell, Vice-President of Curatiorial Services for the museum.  I hope to arrange for Raymond to visit Peru State College.

And after we closed the museum at after 6:00 pm, we drove down the street and delighted in Arthur Bryant's BBQ, a place Andy had wanted to visit since his undergraduate years at the University of South Carolina.  

Early Friday morning, I picked up Andy at the Best Western in Nebraska City, and we joined John Hnida's Field Ornithology Class for a field trip on the Trace Trail not far from where I live out here in the countryside.

Andy Duncan with John Hnida Field Ornithology Group

 After a couple hours in the field, Andy offered his final reading of his visit, talking with my College 101 students, who experience his latest publication, The Pottawatomie Giant.

Andy read a selection from a story in the collection, "The Big Rock Candy Mountain."

The second video from Andy's visit features selections from his reading to the Journalism Class and my College 101 group:

My College 101 Class

To learn more about Andy, read this most flattering story in the University of Alabama Alumni Magazine and check out Andy's Blog, Beluthahatchie.

I hope that we can host Andy Duncan again.  

Enjoy a slide show from Andy's activities on his visit, and especially his interactions with our students, in the class and on the trail.