UT alumnus, author reads from new book

UT alumnus and award winning author M.O. Walsh visited the University of Tennessee on Monday, Sept. 21 as part of the Writers in the Library series.

Walsh’s work has been featured on the New York Times bestsellers list, Entertainment Weekly’s “Must” list for 2015 and Amazon’s Featured Debuts. His essays and stories have also been published in New York Times and Oxford American among several other publications.

There was a big turnout in Hodge’s Library for Walsh’s reading from his new novel, “My Sunshine Away”. He read two selections from the novel and then took questions from the audience.

In addition to the evening’s reading, Walsh also participated in a Q&A discussion in McClung Tower where he answered questions from students and faculty. He discussed his writing process and his experiences in the literary world.

“It was a whole lot harder and it took longer to do,” he joked when asked about what the transition from short story writing to novel writing. Walsh explained that it took him seven years to write his novel. “Staying focused for that long was the main difference,” Walsh said.

Walsh also added that when writing for novels, he wanted to create characters that people would grow attached to and want to read about all the way to the end of the book.

When asked about getting his stories published, Walsh also mentioned that he was no stranger to rejection. He said that he became a better writer through rejection, and he was able to grow a thicker skin and learn from his mistakes.

You can learn more about M.O. Walsh and his work here.

More writers will be participating in the Writers in the Library series throughout the 2015-2016 academic year. Here is a full list of the featured writers.

Edited by Ben Webb