The Visiting Writers Series returns this semester with a reading by author Jon Clinch at 7 p.m. today in Kimball.
Clinch is the author of “Finn: A Novel,” released in 2007. The book was named one of the best of 2007 by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Christian Science Monitor, among others. It is also on the shortlist for the first ever “Best Recommended List” by the National Book Critic’s Circle.

Clinch’s Web site features praise for his novel by several other authors, including Mary Gaitskill and Sara Gruen.

“‘Finn’ is as dark, as brutal, as ambivalent and as insane as the history and legacy of American racial slavery. It is also graceful, imaginative and relentlessly intelligent,” wrote Gaitskill in her review.

Before becoming a novelist, Clinch taught American Literature and Advanced Composition to high school students.

During this time he was awarded the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year Award. After three years of teaching, Clinch started work in advertising with his wife, Wendy. Eventually he returned to his home state of New York to teach at his alma mater, Syracuse University.

Prior to the completion of “Finn,” Clinch authored several short stories which appeared in the literary journal MSS.
Building off of the work of Mark Twain, “Finn” tells the story of Huckleberry Finn’s father.   It features characters introduced by Twain as well as new characters created by Clinch.

“‘Finn’ is a novel about race; about paternity in its many guises; about the shame of a nation recapitulated by the shame of one absolutely unforgettable family. Above all, it reaches back into the darkest waters of America’s past to fashion something compelling, fearless and new,” according to Clinch’s Web site.

To read more about the author and his work, visit jonclinch.com.