{"id":2354,"date":"2026-09-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/09\/11\/2026-09-11-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:06:32","slug":"2026-09-11-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/09\/11\/2026-09-11-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus commemorates agrarian literary\u00a0giant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jaci Morrell<\/a> · Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wendell
Wendell Berry, photographed in 2012 on his Kentucky farm. \u2014 GUY MENDES<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Students and faculty gathered in the Breen Student Union Monday evening to commemorate the late American author Wendell Berry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berry, author of over 50 books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, died in his Kentucky home on Aug. 31. He received many awards and honors for his work, including the National Humanities Medal and T.S. Eliot Prize. Berry\u2019s writing dealt with the complicated ideas of environmentalism, community and religion. His depiction and exploration of the relationship between his Christian faith and way of life likely drew the admiration of many readers at Grove City College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grove City Literary Society (GCLS) and The Fugitives organized the memorial service and worked with the Department of English to celebrate Berry\u2019s life and work. Several students and professors read selections from Berry\u2019s poems, essays and novels and shared their experiences with the writer and his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Berry\u2019s writing, many also praised Berry as a person. Jeffrey Bilbro, a professor and prominent critic of Berry\u2019s writings, said it is rare for an admirable writer to also be an admirable man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Berry) was appreciated across political (\u2026) and religious lines,\u201d Bilbro said. \u201cNo one else provokes such radical life changes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several other speakers echoed this idea, emphasizing Berry\u2019s work had caused dramatic change in their lives. Calliope Leech, a junior who took Bilbro\u2019s class dedicated to studying Berry\u2019s work, spoke at the event. She said that reading Berry in this class helped her \u201cmake sense of life\u201d and that his writing showed the \u201cpotential for restoration\u201d in the world. After the end of the class, she wrote a thank-you note to Berry and received a reply from the author in January, which she read aloud to attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several professors also spoke and read at the memorial. Joshua Mayo, the English department chair, read a poem he wrote and dedicated to Berry, remarking on the impact the poet had on his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Edwards, a professor of education and humanities, described Berry as a \u201cremarkable man\u201d and referred to himself as a \u201cstudent of Wendell Berry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor of English Andrew Harvey, who was called \u201cthe original Wendell Berry fan\u201d at the event, recounted his experience meeting the poet in person and called him \u201ca wise grandfather who you wish was your grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Berry\u2019s admirers were not limited to the college. Hannah Bilbro, 11, recited Berry\u2019s poem \u201cLike Snow\u201d for those present and said she \u201cliked (Berry\u2019s) style.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students and faculty gathered in the Breen Student Union Monday evening to commemorate the late American author Wendell Berry. Berry, author of over 50 books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, died in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[209],"tags":[19,171,168],"class_list":["post-2354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-community","tag-jaci-morrell","tag-issue-2026-09-11"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-12-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant-1.jpg",1430,1096,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-12-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant-1.jpg",150,115,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-12-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant-1.jpg",300,230,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-12-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant-1.jpg",768,589,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-12-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant-1.jpg",1024,785,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-12-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant-1.jpg",1430,1096,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-09-11-12-campus-commemorates-agrarian-literary-giant-1.jpg",1430,1096,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Students and faculty gathered in the Breen Student Union Monday evening to commemorate the late American author Wendell Berry. Berry, author of over 50 books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, died in","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2532,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354\/revisions\/2532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}