Events and Conferences

Soul Food: A Hoosier Literary Luncheon Series

The Soul Food series ran from September 2007 to May 2008 and featured monthly readings and discussion with local authors. Participants received a free copy of the book highlighted that day. The luncheon series began on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, with pastor and speaker Phil Gulley, who read from My Life on Broadway, a memoir about growing up on Broadway Street in Danville, Indiana.

On October 17, Butler University professor Paul Valliere shared Finding God in a Tangled World: Thoughts and Parables, a unique conversation about faith between a Protestant pastor and a Roman Catholic artist in the heart of post-communist Latvia.

Rabbi Sandy Sasso read from God’s Echo: Exploring Scripture with Midrash on November 7. The book explores how midrash (the on-going interpretation of a text) originated, how it is used today, and offers new translations and interpretations of more than 20 essential midrash texts.

On December 12, IUPUI professor Tom Davis shared The Aluminum Christmas Tree, a story set in the 1950s about a woman struggling to help her husband realize what is really important in their lives.

Pastor Kevin Armstrong read from Resurrecting Excellence on January 16, 2008. The book aims to rekindle and encourage among Christian leaders an unselfish ambition for the gospel that shuns both competition and mediocrity and focuses on the beauty, power, and excellence of living as faithful disciples.

Therapist, author and poet Rusty Moe shared excerpts from his new book of poetry, way-marks, on February 20. This new book rings with the voices of love and joy, release and renewal, sorrow and metamorphosis through poems that follow the journey of life and spirituality, looking at where we are and signs of where we’ve been.

On May 14, Norbert Krapf shared excerpts from Invisible Presence: A Walk Through Indiana in Photographs and Poems. Krapf co-authored this book with photographer Daryl Jones. The photography and meditations perfectly complement each other in this rich book that captures the spiritual undercurrent that flows through Indiana’s fields, woods, and towns.

IUPUI Professor Sheila Kennedy read from God and Country: America in Red and Blue on April 16. God and Country explores America’s religious and political life and how they are intertwined.