Author K.L. Cook Journeys to Waldorf University

By: Diana Humble

As a part of Waldorf University’s Distinguished Visiting Writer Series, renowned fiction writer K.L. Cook will be reading from his collection of short stories on February 13.

In 2010, Cook’s most recent collection of short stories won the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, and was a Long list Finalist for the Frank O’Connor International Story Prize. Love Songs for the Quarantined features a bevy of short stories with thematic links. Each story sprouts from a place of love, and ends with a cruel twist of fate. John Keeble, author of Yellowfish and Broken Ground says that “as the title suggests, these are songs for people entrapped by love. Sometimes it’s a happy entrapment, but more often it’s unhappy, and most of the time just inscrutable in the way that love can be. The stories are also savvy and compelling.  K. L. Cook knows the landscape of love in modern times perfectly.”

Cook’s other short stories have made appearances in a number of literary journals and magazines across the country, including Glimmer Train, One Story, Poets & Writers, Prairie Schooner, The Writer’s Chronicle and Harvard Review. Linda Swanson-Davies, co-editor of Glimmer Train, a journal widely considered to be the pinnacle of American short fiction, says that Cook’s stories are “riveting and deeply moving, these intimate stories make it impossible to keep a safe distance.”

Tim Bascom, head of the Waldorf University Creative Writing department, says “Cook writes honestly and frankly.” He’s brought Cook’s latest work into the classroom in this semester’s advanced fiction workshop course. Students have been examining Cook’s work for direct and indirect characterization. They’ve used these techniques to craft their own short stories that Cook will personally critique during a fiction master class held on February 13.

Cook will be reading in Waldorf University’s Salveson Ballroom on Tuesday February 13 from seven to eight pm, and teaching a fiction master class on the same day from 10:30-11:45 am in the Louise V. Hanson Library.