Something Extra Special

SOMETHING EXTRA SPECIAL

GREG GARRETT

Novelist Winner of the William Faulkner Prize for Fiction Recipient of University-Wide Teaching Award, Baylor Episcopal Seminarian Musician

A LITERARY LOOK AT THEOLOGY AND LIFE LESSONS

During the four Sundays of August, Greg will facilitate discussions of novels to see how the stories and struggles of their characters can illuminate our own faith journeys. The major spiritual themes are: SIN PEACE JUSTICE GRACE MIRACLES DIVINITY FAITH FATE REDEMPTION RENEWAL RITUAL AND PRACTICE WHOLENESS

August 7 - Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird August 14 – Ernest Gaines: A Lesson Before Dying All at August 21 – Leif Enger: Peace Like a River 10:15 August 28 – Greg Garrett: Free Bird SOMETHING EXTRA SPECIAL

Greg Garrett is the author of the novel Free Bird--chosen by Publishers Weekly and the Denver Rocky Mountain News as one of the most important fiction debuts of 2002--and the novel Cycling, as well as (with Chris Seay) The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and Faith in The Matrix, and forty published short stories in magazines, newspapers, books, and literary journals in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. and a regional CASE Gold Medal for Nonfiction, he has contributed to Poets and Writers magazine and other national publications, and also appears frequently on national programs as a speaker on story or spirituality. In 1999, Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler called Garrett's fiction "rich and complex" and described him as "easily one of the best fiction writers I have encountered in my fourteen years of teaching." An award-winning teacher as well as writer, Garrett has offered workshops around the country and taught creative writing at the University of Central Oklahoma, the University of Oregon, and Baylor University, where he is currently Professor of English.

I have taught writing, film, American literature, and screenwriting classes over my teaching careet. I am currently Professor of English at Baylor University. I have been honored to receive a number of teaching awards, including the Outstanding Faculty award from the Baylor student government and Outstanding Professor award from the Baylor administration, and I continue to love teaching, although like many writers, I would prefer to do less of it. I also teach workshops and seminars out in the world at large; check my writing website Hints for Writers for a list of public appearances.