Award-winning Syracuse newspaper columnist Sean Kirst will share his expertise as an accomplished journalist and professional writer with students at two intriguing campus/community presentations and numerous classroom visits as part of Fredonia’s Writers@Work series.
In a very busy schedule spanning Thursday to Saturday, April 7 to 9, the 1981 Fredonia alumnus will visit English, Communication and History classes, lead a workshop and deliver two campus/community presentations - one a reflection on how his Dunkirk childhood and Fredonia education shaped his career as a writer and another that examines how Mark Twain’s life was dramatically changed by his experiences here.
After serving as a staff writer at the Evening (Dunkirk) Observer in the early 1980s, Kirst, an English major who also wrote for The Leader student newspaper, embarked on a prolific 27-year career at The (Syracuse) Post-Standard, initially serving as a reporter before being tapped as a sports columnist in 1991.
After shifting gears to write about the fabric of the community, often introducing memorable people who lived beyond the scope of general news, Kirst went on to win the nationwide Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award for human interest writing. He was added to the Syracuse Press Club Wall of Distinction in 2014 and received the Selwyn Kershaw Professional Standards Award and the Gus Bliven-Joe Gangley-Mario Rossi Career Achievement Award, both Press Club honors.
How Kirst has used storytelling to transform Upstate New York landscapes can be experienced by watching his TedX talk, “At the lighthouse: why I tell stories.”
Writing just isn’t a professional tool, Kirst explained. “It’s a life tool that helps you in business and relationships.”
Kirst also co-wrote “Moonfixer: The Basketball Journey of Earl Lloyd” and published a collection of baseball essays.
“Stories may be all around us, but learning how to tell a story is a craft that students in all fields would do well to master, both for pleasure and for professional success. The right story can change a landscape, as Sean's TedX talk demonstrates, or help effect a desired outcome,” said English Professor Natalie Gerber.
“Sean is not only a master storyteller but a tremendous coach,” Dr. Gerber added, and he's here to help students figure out the next step.
Classroom visits are scheduled Thursday in the following courses: ENGL 375: Writing for the Professions; ENGL 372 Grammar and Style for Writers; ENGL 271 Rhetoric for Writers; and ENG 522: Writing for Digital Media. Also planned are informal gatherings with students.
In “A Story Becomes a Story Becomes a Story,” Kirst will relay his own narrative – how a local native with a Fredonia English degree became an award-winning writer – on Thursday, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., in Jewett Hall Room 101. A question/answer session will follow his talk. Light refreshments will be served.
On Friday, Kirst will review History capstone student posters, meet students in COMM 231 Storytelling: Words, Image, Sound and also lead a writing workshop, “Seeing the Stories Around You.” In that session, he will work with student journalists and writers in all genres to help them develop their stories and also recognize the untold stories around them. The Leader is hosting the 3 to 4:30 p.m. session in Williams Center Room G103B, but it’s open to all students.
Kirst will also speak briefly at the Office of Admissions Accepted Student Reception and visit the English department’s open house on Saturday before presenting his local history talk, “How Dunkirk/Fredonia Changed Mark Twain’s Life,” at 2 p.m. in Fenton Hall Room 105.
While he was writing for the old Morning Express newspaper in Buffalo and for many years afterward, Mr. Twain was a frequent visitor to Fredonia, where his mother and widowed sister lived. Working with Drs. Doug Shepard and the late Richard Kline of the English department, Kirst explored legends about Twain and Fredonia. What he learned was the village had a monumental impact on the life of the fabled American author and humorist.
Twain perceived his Fredonia experience as damaging, Kirst discovered, and it served as a backdrop to some of the most challenging and heartbreaking years of his life. (Several landmarks used by Twain and his relatives still exist.) A question/answer session will conclude the Twain presentation. Light refreshments will be served.
The second guest in the Writers@Work Alumni-In-Residence series this semester, Kirst, who left the Syracuse newspaper earlier this year to pursue other writing projects and teaching, remains firmly connected to Dunkirk, despite leaving the area three decades ago to advance his career. Kirst met his wife, Nora, ’82, at Fredonia. She teaches in the Syracuse City School District and will accompany him at Fredonia. Kirst has two older brothers and an older sister - all Fredonia graduates.
A reflective piece written by Kirst and published in the Viewpoints section of Feb. 14 edition of The Buffalo News put into perspective what the planned Athenex manufacturing project with its anticipated 900 jobs means to Dunkirk, a once-thriving steel town that continues to be plagued by factory closings and has seen its population decline by a third in the last 50 years.
“What I know is that it’s always the place that I am from, the gritty town that shaped my humor and sensibilities. It is a place where I grieve over every broken window, and always hope in my gut the city might again ascend,” he wrote.
The Writers@Work series (www.fredonia.edu/writers@work) is a partnership between the English, Business and History departments, Alumni Affairs and the Career Development Office that enables students to interact with and learn from established or emerging writers, editors and publishers representing a variety of professional and creative genres. It is sponsored by the Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund, Fredonia Alumni Association and the Fredonia College Foundation.
