By Jessie Hethcoat
The English department is hosting a reading tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Buckley Center Room 163, featuring writer Floyd Skloot.
Skloot is a nationally recognized memoirist, poet, novelist and critic. Author of 15 books, Skloot has won three Pushcart Prizes, two Oregon book awards, a PEN USA Literary Award and a Pacific NW Booksellers Association Book.
"Over the past decade, Floyd Skloot has developed into one of the finest essayists we have," wrote critic Phillip Lopate. "His strong, subtle, exquisitely truthful and often very funny writing testifies to an impressive humanity and maturity."
Skloot was born in Brooklyn. He received his B.A. in English at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn. and then his M.A. in English at Southern Illinois University. Although Skloot went to college to play baseball, he turned to acting after an injury.
Skloot first published his poetry in 1970, but worked in public policy from 1972 to 1988, having to end his work there because of a disability.
He then moved to Oregon in 1984 and married his wife, Beverly Halberg in 1993. They lived in Amity, a rural Oregon town outside Salem, for 13 years and moved to Portland in 2006.
Herman Asarnow, chair of the English department, is responsible for bringing Skloot to UP.
"Having Skloot read at UP is exciting because he is a local writer with national recognition," Asarnow said.
Skloot's personal experiences, combined with his talent for observation and expression, are evident in much of his writing. In 2008 alone, Skloot published two books of poetry and one of creative nonfiction.
"Memoir writing and my writing mostly focuses on personal experience, not one particular thing," Skloot said. "Using details and taking a closer look at things is a way to understand the greater world around us."
In his memoir titled, "The Shadow of Memory," Skloot recounts his mother's Alheimer's disease and own virus that severely damaged his brain when he was 41. He discusses their connections throughout the book that were non-conversational and forcedly so. Through the music his mother remembered, they connected.
"We can approximate the give and take of conversation through song," Skloot writes. "We have the rhythm of conversation, if not the content. . . .We are holding on to the melody of contact."
Family is a recurring topic in Skloot's writing. His wisdom and understanding of the basic family unit guides much of his writing about people in general.
"Family is a crucible for understanding human relationships," Skloot said.
The book's sequel, "A World of Light," deals further with Skloot's mother's dementia. While the book focuses on empathy, understanding and appreciating memory, it also looks toward the future and illustrates the importance of living in the present.
Skloot's writing process often begins with a certain focus on an essay or poem. From there, memoirs or novels often stem.
"Poetry books develop," Skloot said. "I never write poems intended for one certain book. They accumulate, and I compile them. It's the same with memoirs. They often begin as a series of essays and I put them together to create a cohesive piece of work."
Even with serious topics, Skloot finds humor in his writing. Rather than wallowing in self-pity, Skloot has a recognizable matter-of-fact approach. Even with the most tragic of situations, he finds ways to make his writing enjoyable. He molds experiences into narratives that teach and inspire, rather than depress.
"Skloot has the ability to write about a worldly issue or topic by homing in on a particular instance," Asarnow said. "This way, his writing has a uniquely human approach."
Skloot will focus on his memoir and prose writing. He will read aloud passages from some of his pieces of work.
