Rebecca McCarthy in Conversation with John Lane | Norman Maclean: A Life of Letters and Rivers

Learn about the life of Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, from one of his pupils and long-time friend Rebecca McCarthy. McCarthy paints an intimate portrait of Maclean as a teacher, author, and friend. McCarthy will be in conversation with John Lane. Meet with us and Rebecca McCarthy at Hub City Bookshop on Thursday, May 23rd at 6 PM. 

This event is free and open to the public, registration on Eventbrite comes with a book and holds a reserved seat at the event.

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About the Book

A River Runs Through It and Other Stories turned Norman Maclean into a late-in-life literary phenomenon and then a household name after the success of the Hollywood film based on the title story. Yet fewer know of Maclean's lifelong struggles to reconcile very different parts of himself: the revered teacher and writer in the intellectual hub of Chicago and the Montana man compelled by the wildness and traumas of his home state and family, including the tragic Mann Gulch fire and the murder of his brother.

Rebecca McCarthy's intimate portrait of Maclean draws on her long friendship with the author from the time she became a student at the University of Chicago through the rest of his life. Irrepressible as a teacher, Maclean shared guidance, advice, campus and city rambles, and loyal friendship with generations of students. Behind the scenes, he honed an art as meditative and patient as his approach to fly fishing. McCarthy's experiences intertwine with stories from friends, family, colleagues, and others to detail an incredibly rich life that seemed destined to remain divided―until the creation of his classic American story.

About the Author

Rebecca McCarthy spent twenty-one years as an award-winning reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her work has been published in the New York Times, American Scholar, Fast Company, and other venues. Her book, Norman Maclean: A Life of Letters and Rivers is based on her long friendship with the author from the time she became a student at the University of Chicago through the rest of his life.

Conversation Partner

John Lane is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Studies at Wofford College and was founding director of the college’s Goodall Environmental Studies Center. He is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, Coyote Settles the South was one of four finalists for the John Burroughs Medal and was named by the Burroughs Society one of the year’s “Nature Books of Uncommon Merit.” As an environmentalist in 2013 Lane was named Upstate Forever’s “Clean Water Champion,” and “Water Conservationist of the Year” by The South Carolina Wildlife Federation. In 2014 he was inducted into the SC Academy of Authors. He, with his wife Betsy Teter, is one of the co-founders of Spartanburg’s Hub City Writers Project, a non-profit organization with a mission to cultivate readers and nurture writers.