Ron Hansen, best known for writing fiction on the American West, will be speaking at Hillsdale College on Tuesday about Shakespeare’s impact on his writing and his recent visit to the Holy Land. The lecture will be in Dow Rooms A & B at 8 p.m., with a book signing and reception held after at a location given out to attendees.
Hansen will also be reading selections from two of his works on Monday at the same time and place as the lecture. The selections are a short story about a deadly blizzard that hit the Great Plains in 1888 and part of his most recent novel, “The Kid,” about the life of outlaw Henry McCarty, or Billy the Kid.
Professor of English John Somerville and the Visiting Writers Program are hosting Hansen.
“We have lots of speakers come to campus; a lot of people from the political world, maybe economics, maybe history. But as for serious writers in poetry and fiction, it’s just the guys and women I bring,” Somerville said.
Hansen has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice, and his novel “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” was into a movie in 2007. He has taught fiction and screenwriting at universities including Stanford University and the University of Michigan. Hansen currently teaches courses on fiction, screenwriting, and literature at Santa Clara University.
While on campus, Somerville has arranged for Hansen to eat with select students and give a question and answer session on writing fiction.
“One of the things I’ve wanted to do since I started directing this program is to give students as much contact with the writer as possible,” Somerville said. “I don’t want to bring him and have him just spend his time with faculty because, come on, it’s really for the students.”
Hansen has come to Hillsdale once before, in 2008. Somerville said he has wanted to bring Hansen back for a few years, and Hansen is excited to return. Hansen’s visit this semester almost didn’t happen, however. Before contacting Hansen, Somerville reached out to two other writers who had conflicts with coming this spring.
“Ron Hansen hasn’t been here in awhile. He has a new novel out — it came out in the fall – and I’ve wanted to bring him back for a number of years. So I wrote him and, thank goodness, he said yes,” Somerville said. “I’m very pleased he’s coming. He’s a great guy; he’s a very generous and smart and kind person.”
