Calvin Festival of Faith & Writing

So I had been looking forward to the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing for the past two years, ever since I’d heard about it on Mark Bertrand’s blog. I marked it on my calendar… and waited. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but honestly, whatever I thought before got blown away.

Seldom have I ever had three such wonderful days! The lectures (for the most part) were great, and of course of these getting to hear Michael Chabon twice (twice!) was the highlight. Very funny guy, and a brilliant writer.

Meeting the Relief people was awesome (I had a story in Coach’s Midnight Diner last year). They’re probably the most down to earth group of editors you could ever meet. We had a great little party one night, although they told me I was going into the Witness Protection Program afterward. Hah. Also awesome was meeting the folks at Seattle Pacific University (where I’ll be attending this fall) as well as film critic and author Jeffrey Overstreet.

It is really a beautiful thing, when you’re in your place with your people, isn’t it? I just couldn’t get over feeling that all week. I stayed with a couple of other conference attendees and we had our own “private reading” the last night. I read a short story and they read poems. Good times.

And of course I bought too many books, waited in much too long a line to have one of them signed by Chabon; the titles of my purchases ranging from Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinksi, The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon, Through a Screen Darkly by Jeffrey Overstreet, and I got a free copy of The Organic God by Margaret Feinburg.

Beautiful days. I’m currently in Michigan this week and Illinois next week, but I can’t wait to get home and start putting stuff on paper again.