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When 100 needy kids — instead of the expected 20 — show up for a party called Santa Fest, the organizer is overwhelmed. There aren’t enough gifts to go around. There aren’t enough refreshments.
Then the kids start breaking candy canes into pieces and sharing them, without complaint.
If that image from author Nancy McKinley’s collection of stories, “St. Christopher on Pluto,” doesn’t touch your heart maybe the handicapped veteran will, as he pets his dying dog with his only hand.
Or the high school kid with spina bifida as he independently strikes out to get himself to school in his wheelchair. Or the middle-aged women, tooling around in a 40-year-old Buick, who face life with spirit and laughter despite their limited resources.
McKinley, who is part of the creative writing faculty at Wilkes University, will read from “St. Christopher on Pluto” on Thursday evening at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center as part of Wilkes University’s Maslow Foundation Salon Reading Series.
The reading series highlights the January 2020 residency for the University’s Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing and features alumni, guests and program faculty as guest readers.
McKinley, who lives in Fort Collins, Colo., once called the Tunkhannock/Springville area home, and has set her collection of fictional stories in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where major characters Colleen and MK ditch a car by “the Mighty Susquehanna” — against MK’s better judgment — so Colleen can try to collect insurance.
The women listen to Froggy 101, admire an elderly friend’s refusal to move into assisted living as her son from Scranton wants her to, wonder “how can a mechanic operate a business this far from Wilkes-Barre,” and have a young acquaintance who considers applying for a job at Mohegan Sun — so there are plenty of local references.
But what readers will likely remember most about the characters is their resilience, despite the less than rosy economy that has MK and Colleen working at a failing mall and shopping at the Salvation Army.
“They’re struggling, but what I’m hoping to share is that there’s hope and humor in that struggle,” McKinley said during a recent interview. “Their humor is very life-affirming, and it’s the one thing that can’t be taken away from them.”
“I wanted to showcase the voices of people who aren’t always heard.”
Middle-aged and feisty Colleen and MK have a friendship that dates back to their time as schoolgirls at a Catholic elementary school, where a nun once suggested they write to a soldier who was serving in Vietnam. Little did Sister Immaculata imagine her best students would give the young man the impression the letters were from a mature woman eager to date him.
Colleen and MK have a soft spot for odd causes; they’re indignant that the Catholic church no longer considers Christopher a saint, for example, just as scientists dismissed Pluto’s status as a planet.
Ask McKinley if she sees herself in MK or Colleen, and she’ll explain, “Just as a parent has DNA in her children, there’s a part of me in all the characters. As writers we draw from the well-spring of our experiences.”
Yes, she attended a Catholic grade school, as MK and Colleen did. And she was close to her beloved grandmother, as MK is. And the whole candy cane-sharing episode is familiar, too.
“I’ve taught in under-served communities,” the author said, “and it’s amazing to me to see the sense of sharing,”
The Maslow series, which kicked off on Monday, continues tonight through Thursday, from 7 to 9 p.m. each evening at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center, 239 S. River St., Wilkes-Barre. All readings are free and open to the public.
The schedule includes:
Jan. 7: Readers Kevin Oderman, David Poyer, Lenore Hart, Jeff Talarigo, Kaylie Jones, Beverly Donofrio, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and Phil Brady
Jan. 8: A playwrights night featuring a reading of creative writing faculty member Jean Klein’s play “Generous Rivals.”
Jan. 9: In addition to McKinley, whose book “St. Christopher on Pluto” was released in December by West Virginia University Press, readers include guest authors Susan Mailer, whose memoir “In Another Place: With and Without My Father, Norman Mailer,” was published in fall 2019 by Northampton House Press, Sheryl St. Germain, whose memoir in essays, “50 Miles,” will be published in 2020 by Etruscan Press, and poet Tim Seibles, whose collection “Fast Animal” – also published by Etruscan Press — was a National Book Award finalist.
Seibles is an advisory board member for the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Rounding out the readers will be creative writing program alumna Suzanne Ohlmann, who will read selections from her novel. A book signing and reception will follow Thursday’s readings.
Wilkes University’s Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing offers the master of arts and master of fine art degrees in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, publishing and documentary film.
Program faculty are working, producing writers who mentor students one-on-one through the process of creating a full-length creative project. The Graduate Creative Writing program is offered in two formats. In the low-residency format, students learn online and attend two eight-day residencies each January and June. For the weekender program, students will learn online and attend four face-to-face weekend class sessions each term. For more info, visit wilkes.edu/creativewriting or call 570-408-4527.
