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Learn More About Redding's First-Ever Town-Wide Read
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" |
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Biographies of the Experts
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| Kerry Driscoll Kerry Driscoll is a Professor of English at St. Joseph College in West Hartford, CT. She has been a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Heidelberg, and has also taught at Elmira and Ithaca Colleges. Kerry's M.A. and Ph.D. were awarded by the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has published extensively on Mark Twain, including articles in the Mark Twain Annual, Mark Twain Journal, the University of Missouri Press Cosmopolitan Twain, and Modern Library editions of A Tramp Abroad and The Innocents Abroad. She is at work on Mark Twain among the Indians --a comprehensive study of Twain's evolving attitudes toward, and conflicting representations of, Native Americans in his work. Kerry will be a panelist in the Hooray for Huck! finale on November 2nd, and has contributed to the ReddingREADS Huck discussion guide. Janice Garvey Much to her own disbelief, Janice Garvey has taught English at Joel Barlow High School in Redding for over twenty years. Prior to that she taught briefly in both Trumbull and New York City. Other teaching experiences include teaching both creative and persuasive writing in the college program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford, New York, and tutoring students of English as a Second Language on Kibbutz Sdot Yam outside Ceasaria in Israel. Tutoring, however, was not her only responsibility while on the kibbutz. She made a lot of beds, washed a lot of dishes, and swept a lot of floors. She also picked a lot of oranges, some of which probably made it to the kitchens of Connecticut. In between her time on the Kibbutz and her time at Barlow, Janice waitressed at the Balsams in Dixville Notch, N.H and tended bar in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Needless to say, she skis. Skiing is not her only outdoor activity. Hiking, biking, camping, and kayaking are also on her list. For company on these jaunts, she is lucky to have a good family, a good friend or two and one good dog. Lucky to have some time in the summer, she has traveled extensively, including numerous trips to Europe and the Middle East, as well as trips to Africa, Asia, and Alaska. Her favorite place, aside from the Dingle Peninsula, the place to which she will always return, is Biddeford Pool, Maine. Janice tries to use her experiences to her advantage in her writing, and has studied the craft of writing at both Fairfield University and NYU. She is also a graduate of The Connecticut Writing Project, and she credits her writing group with helping her to be named Connecticut Poet of the Year in 1997. The year before, in 1996, she was a semi-finalist for Connecticut Teacher of the Year. For this, she credits her students, and the ability not to take herself too seriously, a trait she chooses to believes she shares with both Huck Finn and Twain himself. Janice will lead a book discussion that focuses on the language of Huck at the library on October 23 at 7:00 PM, and has contributed to the ReddingREADS Huck discussion guide. Ben Gordon I was born and raised in Boston, an ardent Red Sox fan. My brother and I were wards of a charitable organization, for our parents were unable to care for us. We lived in group homes and in foster homes. I graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts in 1962 and earned an M.A. in American Literature from New York University. I taught high school English in New Jersey before roaming about Europe and Israel for a year. I taught English in Ghana for several months and returned to the States to pursue my future wife, Suzanne, and to study for a Ph.D. in American Studies, which I finally earned in 1970. I taught English (including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) for thirty-five years at New Canaan High School. I retired two years ago and am writing a memoir about my life as a ward of the Jewish Family and Childrenís Service of Boston. Suzanne and I moved to Redding in 1975. She has recently retired from Joel Barlow High School. I have enjoyed beekeeping here and am a long-time member of the Zoning Commission. We raised two children: Sarah, who earned a Ph.D. in History and lives in Manhattan with her husband and three year old daughter, and Joshua, who is an attorney in Los Angeles. We also have a cat named Sweetie. Ben will be a panelist in the Hooray for Huck! finale, will lead a discussion group in examining Huck's relationship with Jim at the library on October 2 at 3:00PM, and has contributed to the ReddingREADS Huck discussion guide. Craig Hotchkiss Craig is the Education Program Manager at the Mark Twain House in Hartford. He is a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and holds a Masterís degree in American Studies. He taught history for 33 years at the South Windsor High School. He will focus on the historical context of Huckleberry Finn for ReddingREADS. Craig will be a panelist in the Hooray for Huck! finale, and has contributed to the ReddingREADS Huck discussion guide. Bob Liftig Dr. Robert A. Liftig of Westport was raised in Avon, Connecticut, and spent many afternoons touring the Mark Twain House in Hartford even when most of it was still a dormitory for the University of Hartford. He remembers a docent reading a letter just received from Clara, Sam Clemens's last living daughter, and being given a piece of moveable type from the Twain's Paige Type Setter as a souvenir. Bob holds a B.A. from the University of Maryland in English and American Literature, an MA in American Literature from Central Connecticut State University, and an M.Ed and Ed.D from Columbia University. He is currently a Writing Fellow at Quinnipiac University, and has been an adjunct professor at Fairfield University for the last 25 years. He has lived in Westport for 32 years, and buys his cigars in South Norwalk, where Sam Clemens bought his. He recently completed a Twain Tour of Missouri and the Mississippi River, and is the author of books, articles in regional magazines, and research studies in educational journals. Last year he organized a reunion in Redding between the historic Fairfield Morehouse family, and their "lost" cousins who settled in Nova Scotia after being told to leave Redding Ridge 229 years ago. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Westport Magazine, and Educational Leadership. Bob will be a panelist in the Hooray for Huck! finale, will lead a book discussion at the library on October 9 at 7:00 PM, and has contributed to the ReddingREADS Huck discussion guide. Catherine Riordan Catherine Riordan facilitates book discussion groups at the Mark Twain Library and the Danbury Library. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Fordham University, where she studied the development of the novel, and has taught literature at Fordham and Western Connecticut State Universities. She currently manages an IT Project Management Office. Catherine is a board member of the Redding Garden Club, and has served on the Friends of the Danbury Library and the UCONN School of Business boards. Catherine will moderate the panel discussion at the Hooray for Huck! finale, will lead a book discussion at the library on October 16 at 7:00PM, and has contributed to the ReddingREADS Huck discussion guide. She is a co-chair of ReddingREADS Huck. |
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