Castleton University is pleased to welcome the #1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian and critically acclaimed journalist and novelist Stephen P. Kiernan as co-keynote speakers at the University’s 2018 Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 12 at 11 a.m. in the Castleton Pavilion.
“Our graduates are in for a treat,” said President Scolforo, adding that both speakers will be presented honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Castleton University at the ceremony. “Through their writing, Chris Bohjalian and Stephen Kiernan have started a state, national, and even global dialogue about difficult, albeit important, topics.”
Bohjalian’s work has been translated into over 30 languages, and three of his 20 novels commissioned for movies, including his most recent novel, The Flight Attendant. His books have won a variety of awards, including Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hartford Courant, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Bookpage, and Salon.
Bohjalian has written for a wide range of magazines and newspapers throughout his career including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and served as a weekly columnist in Vermont for The Burlington Free Press from 1992 through 2015. A Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of Amherst College, Bohjalian and his wife, photographer Victoria Blewer, currently reside in Vermont.
Stephen P. Kiernan has published nearly four million words. His newspaper work has garnered more than forty awards, including the George Polk Award and the Scripps Howard Award for Distinguished Service to the First Amendment. He is the author of the novels The Curiosity, The Hummingbird, and The Baker’s Secret, as well as two nonfiction books, Last Rights and Authentic Patriotism.
A graduate of Middlebury College, Kiernan travels the country speaking and consulting on the expansion of hospice services, palliative care and advanced directives. He received his Master of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has chaired the Young Writers Project, served on the Vermont Legislative Committee on Pain and Palliative Care, and served on the advisory board of the New Hampshire Palliative Care Initiative.
This year’s event will mark Castleton’s 231st Commencement ceremony.
More information is available at castleton.edu/commencement.