Best-selling author Bret Lott on Teaching Writing with Humor and Goodwill

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On this episode of Speaking Of...College of Charleston speaks with acclaimed author Bret Lott about his 34 years of teaching writing, his writing process and upcoming non-fiction book and the international writing program he established in Bahrain. Lott shares moments from his life, including the infamous story of becoming an overnight, international best-selling author when his book Jewel was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection.

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Bret Lott is the author of fourteen books, most recently the essay collection Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, On Being a Christian (Crossway, 2013) and the novel Dead Low Tide (Random House, 2012). He received his MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1984, studying under Jay Neugeboren and James Baldwin.

From 1986 to 2004 he was writer-in-residence and professor of English at The College of Charleston, leaving to take the position of editor and director of the journal The Southern Review at Louisiana State University. Three years later, in the fall of 2007, he returned to The College of Charleston and the job he most loves: teaching.

He has spoken on Flannery O'Connor at the White House, and served as Fulbright Senior American Scholar to Bar-llan University in Tel Aviv, Israel. From 2006 to 2013 he served as a member of the National Council on the Arts. From 2010 to 2022 he was director of the Spoleto Summer Study Abroad program in English at the College.

Resources on this Episode
 Michael Connelly, Bosch Series
Barbara W. Tuchman: The Guns of August, The Proud Tower