Festival of Faith & Writing Celebrates Silver Anniversary

This year, the biennial Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. will be celebrating its silver anniversary.

Some 2,000 readers, writers and literary enthusiasts will be on hand April 14-16 to join in conversations around the topic of faith and writing.

Festival director Lisa Ann Cockrel says this year’s lineup of speakers “is perhaps the most celebrated group of writers we’ve had together at one time in the history of festival.”

This year’s edition features keynote addresses from Zadie Smith, “one of the premiere novelists and essayists of our time,” – one of her novels White Teeth won the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction; Nadia Bolz-Weber founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints (Denver, Colo.) and author of several books; and Tobias Wolff, “a master storyteller” who authored two memoirs, numerous short story collections and novels.

On Friday night, Wolff will come back to the stage for a conversation with his former student at Syracuse, George Saunders. Saunders is a recipient of both a MacArthur and a Guggenheim fellowship, and the author of several short story collections, novellas, essays and a children's book.

“The conversations that happen here are a unique delight,” said Cockrel. “We’ll see where that conversation goes … but having the mentor and the star pupil [Wolff and Saunders] on the stage together, talking about their craft is something I’m thrilled to host.”

The festival also features dozens of breakout sessions, providing an opportunity for both avid readers and aspiring writers to have conversations about how issues of faith are portrayed in the written word.

Those sessions include Pulitzer Prize-winning authors like Paul Harding, well known poets like Christian Wiman and Mary Ruefle, and lay theologians who write about Christian living like Sarah Bessey.

Cockrel says one of the more intriguing sessions features Patricia and Alana Raybon, a mother and daughter who didn’t talk about their faiths for 10 years after Alana converted from Christianity to Islam. This past year, they co-authored a book Undivided: A Muslim Daughter, Her Christian Mother, Their Path to Peace. Their session will speak into the tension of having interfaith dialogue.

“Hospitality is a core component of the Festival's mission. We create space for people from all different faiths to talk about how their faith intersects with their work,” said Cockrel.

“I cannot think of another confessional Christian college that would have the theological resources, intellectual hospitality and cultural vision to host this diverse gathering. There’s nothing like it anywhere else.”