Author to lead English Festival forum

Rebecca McClanahan, guest author for Bluffton University’s annual English Festival, will offer “Some Thoughts on the Writing and Reading Life” in a campus forum at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 26, in Founders Hall. Her presentation is free and open to the public.

McClanahan has written 10 books of poetry, essays and nonfiction, including “The Tribal Knot: A Memoir of Family, Community, and a Century of Change,” published this month by the Indiana University Press.

Using letters, artifacts and documents that span more than a century, she weaves her ancestors’ stories into “The Tribal Knot” narrative of her search to understand herself and her place in the family’s complex past.

McClanahan’s work has appeared in numerous anthologies as well, and her honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Glasgow Award for nonfiction and literary fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. She also teaches in the master of fine arts programs of Queens University of Charlotte and Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writing Workshop.