Peter Hoppock launches the summer series with a discussion of Greg Jackson's breathtaking high-wire act of writing craftsmanship, The Honest Island, which was first published in the New Yorker in November 2024.
The Honest Island by Greg Jackson chronicles the last few days a man named Craint spends on an island where he doesn’t speak the native language, has no idea how he got there, and doesn’t remember his life before arriving there. Tension builds after he befriends a new visitor to the island and begins in earnest to question who he is, why he is there, and what possible future he might have. His struggles to understand mirror the reader’s struggles to understand what the truth is.
Peter Hoppock will discuss how the author blends the exterior setting in poetic evocations of place with provocative explorations of the protagonist's interiority as he struggles to reconnect with his identity.
Hosted by: Sam Farler
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BIO: Peter Hoppock kicks off the Summer Sessions calendar for the fifth year in a row. He has published numerous short stories and novellas in a variety of literary magazines, both online and print, including Adelaide, Curbside Splendor, The Write Launch, Dillydoun Review, and more. He has co-edited two anthologies of short stories and creative non-fiction for OCWW, published by Windy City Press: Turning Points (2021), and Meaningful Conflicts (2023). His short story Blues For Rashid was selected by Palasatrium for their June 2023 publication, and his novella Precipice won honorable mention in the 2024 Black Orchid Novella Award Contest.
