Oct 18 2024 27 mins
On this episode of Speaking Of…College of Charleston, we talk to Bret Lott, professor of English and New York Times Best-Selling author, about his latest book, his upcoming retirement after decades of teaching at the College and the importance of maintaining hope. Jesse Kunze, our sound engineer, is stepping into the host’s seat today because he is a former student of Lott’s and because the two spent a lot of time together in this very studio recording the audio version of Lott’s latest book, Gather the Olives, On Food and Hope and the Holy Land.
Featured on this episode:
Bret Lott is the bestselling author of eight novels, three story collections and three nonfiction books; his fifteenth book, a nonfiction collection titled Cherries on the Golan, Olives in Jerusalem, will be out in 2023. His first novel, The Man Who Owned Vermont, was read in nationwide broadcasts on public radio. and his novel Jewel was both an Oprah Book Club selection and made into a film. His work has been translated into eight languages. He received his MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1984, studying under Jay Neugeboren and James Baldwin.
He has spoken on Flannery O'Connor at the White House, and served as Fulbright Senior American Scholar to Bar-llan University in Tel Aviv, Israel. From 2006 to 2013 he served as a member of the National Council on the Arts, and from 2010 to 2022 he directed the Spoleto Summer Study Abroad program in English at the College.
If you enjoyed this episode with Bret Lott, listen to an earlier episode where he shares why he loves teaching.
Resources from this episode:
- Podcast with Bret Lott on teaching MFA students in Bahrain
- Gather the Olives, on Food and Hope in the Holy Land