Sari Fordham, whose fascinating girlhood is captured in her extraordinary memoir about a naïve yet brave missionary family navigating tumultuous 1970s Uganda, is the next virtual speaker in SUNY Oswego's Living Writers Series, at 3 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 28.

In seamless and daring prose, "Wait for God to Notice" explores love, grief and living in a place that was never really yours, said Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, who organizes the series. Yet Fordham, who teaches creative writing at SUNY Oswego, says she is not unique: each of her students has a story to tell. Her classes underscore “the power that comes from getting the exact detail right,” and as proof, Fordham’s students have been published in Brevity, Rain Taxi, Adanna and other respected literary venues.

A nationally known author and environmental activist, Fordham received a Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference grant and a Djerassi Resident Artists Program fellowship. She is a senior editor at Literary Mama, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Baltimore Review, Chattahoochee Review, Passages North, Booth, Best of the Net and elsewhere. Fordham also writes a free monthly newsletter, Cool It: Simple Steps to Save the Planet. Each letter focuses one change in readers' personal lives, and one systemic change, that could help protect the earth. 

“I have often wished I could be a student in one of Sari Fordham’s courses,” Frazier said, “and her Living Writers Series appearance will give me, and our audience, that valuable chance to pick her brain. Whether you’re looking to write a gripping memoir or to discover one, this is your chance to learn more.”

At the event, Fordham will give a reading, discuss her work and take questions.

While Fordham’s October 28 appearance will be a virtual event via Zoom, open to both campus and community, other events in the series (including one featuring Isaac Fitzgerald and one featuring Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket) will occur in person, in Marano Campus Center Auditorium.

The Living Writers Series is made possible by ARTSwego and the Student Arts Fee, as well as numerous other series partners including SUNY PRODiG, Penfield Library and Library of America. 

For more information on the Living Writers Series, follow the series on the SUNY Oswego events calendar.

-- Submitted by the Living Writers Series