By: Ainsley Green, Arts & Entertainment Editor
On Tuesday, Oct. 20, Amy Butcher ’09 returned to Gettysburg College to share her experiences as a creative nonfiction writer and professor as well as an excerpt from her latest long-term project, “American Girl.” This reading was hosted by the Department of English and took place in the Lyceum of Pennsylvania Hall, with an audience full of professors and students.
Professor Kathryn Rhett introduced Butcher, highlighting her various accolades and experiences since graduating from the College. Butcher earned her MFA from University of Iowa’s nonfiction writing program, and has since received numerous awards, including the Olive B. O’Connor fellowship from Colgate University. Butcher’s work has been featured on National Public Radio and BBC and has been praised by Good Morning America, Glamour Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. Her work has been published in UK, German, and Chinese editions. She is currently an associate professor of English and creative writing at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
Butcher has published two books of nonfiction. The first, “Visting Hours: A Memoir of Friendship and Murder,” describes her experiences visiting a college friend in prison after he committed a murder, which deals with powerful themes of memory and ethics. Her second memoir, “Mother Trucker: Finding Joy on the Loneliest Road in America,” tells the story of the only female long-haul trucker who drove on icy highways in rural Alaska, falling into the category of immersion journalism through in-depth interviews and collaboration.
Rhett recalled Butcher’s presence in her senior seminar class in 2008 and told the audience a quote that she had saved from Butcher. Rhett shared, from Butcher, “‘I believe an essay is valuable when it combines the personal with the informational. It pulls from a variety of contexts, politics, literature, societal norms, and is well written line by line. It is argumentative and opinionated, but not too strong-headed or arrogant.'” Butcher’s work continues to reflect many of these philosophies she stuck to in her undergraduate years.
Rhett’s influence on Butcher’s shift to creative nonfiction was pivotal, leading to Butcher’s involvement in the Mercury student literary magazine and applying to MFA programs in her senior year. She also thanked other English professors, Professors Chris Fee and Jack Ryan, for their role in her education. “So, all of you in this room,” Butcher addressed current students,” [You have] fantastic faculty here, and I hope you’re taking advantage. I feel really lucky that I came through here and got the education that I did.”
Butcher shared the prologue and first chapter of her latest work, which has a working title of “American Girl.” She shared about her experience becoming personally connected to a woman in prison, Brittany, and what she has learned from a decade long relationship about her life and how to convey it on the page. “I knew that there was more to the story, so [I] just began to find background [information] and do research.” Butcher explained.
Audience member Bethany Shifflett ’27, an English with a writing concentration and studio art double major, remarked on the impact of the event. “The reading was super interesting because I was able to see and hear an alum who writes nonfiction, my preferred genre to write in, and [has] two published works and one she’s currently working on,” she said. “It is amazing to see what your future after Gettysburg can bring you.”
Opportunities to hear the work of Gettysburg College alumnae demonstrates how undergraduate experiences can shape future careers and aspirations.
