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A tribute to Jack Cady
October 13, 2006
The life and legacy of Jack Cady, author and former PLU professor, will be celebrated through a series of events on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
Jack Cady was a truck driver turned award-winning science fiction author and literature professor. He taught creative writing at PLU for 13 years and received the distinguished teaching award in 1992.
He published nine novels, the best known of which are “The Hauntings of Hood Canal,” “The Off Season,” “Street: A Novel” and “Inagehi.” He won nearly every award in science fiction, including the Nebula, Phillip K. Dick Award, World Fantasy Award and Bram Stoker Award.
Cady died of cancer in January 2004 at age 71. This spring, Cady’s wife, writer Carol Orlock, donated his collected literary papers to PLU.
The celebration of Cady’s legacy begins with a tribute to his writing and teaching by former students and colleagues at 1:45 p.m. in the Regency Room. The event will feature a discussion of “Ghosts of Yesterday,” a collection of Cady’s stories and essays.
Poet and memorist Stephen Kuusisto’s appearance for the Visiting Writer Series is also part of the celebration of Cady’s legacy. Kuusisto will host The Writer’s Story, a question and answer session at 5 p.m. in the Regency Room.
Following the Writer’s Story, a reception to honor the gift of Cady’s literary papers will take place in on the third floor of Mortvedt Library at 6:45 p.m. During the reception, Orlock will describe the collection and guests will explore exhibits about his books and career.
The event ends with Kuusisto reading from his newest book, “Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening,” at 8 p.m. in the Scandinavian Cultural Center. The book is a collection of vivid essays in which Kuusisito, who has been legally blind since birth, indulges and investigates the active listening he deploys to navigate the world around him. Through all the sounds and their meanings to him, he reveals the nuance of the heard world.
Kuusisto is a faculty member of the Rainier Writing Workshop, PLU’s creative-writing master’s program, and also teaches in the Disability Studies program at the Ohio State University in Columbus. Kuusisto is the author of “Planet of the Blind,” a Notable Book of the Year in 1998, and “Only Bread Only Light,” a collection of poems. His essays and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines including Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry and Partisan Review.
All the events are free and open to the public. The celebration is sponsored by the Department of English, the Visiting Writer Series, the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program, Mortvedt Library and the Office of Development.
For more information, contact Audrey Eyler, professor of English, at eyleras@plu.edu.
Photograph by Lisa C. Freitag.
He published nine novels, the best known of which are “The Hauntings of Hood Canal,” “The Off Season,” “Street: A Novel” and “Inagehi.” He won nearly every award in science fiction, including the Nebula, Phillip K. Dick Award, World Fantasy Award and Bram Stoker Award.
Cady died of cancer in January 2004 at age 71. This spring, Cady’s wife, writer Carol Orlock, donated his collected literary papers to PLU.
The celebration of Cady’s legacy begins with a tribute to his writing and teaching by former students and colleagues at 1:45 p.m. in the Regency Room. The event will feature a discussion of “Ghosts of Yesterday,” a collection of Cady’s stories and essays.
Poet and memorist Stephen Kuusisto’s appearance for the Visiting Writer Series is also part of the celebration of Cady’s legacy. Kuusisto will host The Writer’s Story, a question and answer session at 5 p.m. in the Regency Room.
Following the Writer’s Story, a reception to honor the gift of Cady’s literary papers will take place in on the third floor of Mortvedt Library at 6:45 p.m. During the reception, Orlock will describe the collection and guests will explore exhibits about his books and career.
The event ends with Kuusisto reading from his newest book, “Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening,” at 8 p.m. in the Scandinavian Cultural Center. The book is a collection of vivid essays in which Kuusisito, who has been legally blind since birth, indulges and investigates the active listening he deploys to navigate the world around him. Through all the sounds and their meanings to him, he reveals the nuance of the heard world.
Kuusisto is a faculty member of the Rainier Writing Workshop, PLU’s creative-writing master’s program, and also teaches in the Disability Studies program at the Ohio State University in Columbus. Kuusisto is the author of “Planet of the Blind,” a Notable Book of the Year in 1998, and “Only Bread Only Light,” a collection of poems. His essays and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines including Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry and Partisan Review.
All the events are free and open to the public. The celebration is sponsored by the Department of English, the Visiting Writer Series, the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program, Mortvedt Library and the Office of Development.
For more information, contact Audrey Eyler, professor of English, at eyleras@plu.edu.
Photograph by Lisa C. Freitag.