By Yashowanto Ghosh, Aquinas Reporter
Francisco Xavier Stork, author of well-received young adult novels including Marcelo in the Real World, spoke at Aquinas College’s Kretschmer Recital Hall on Thursday, Sept. 26, for the season opener of the Contemporary Writers Series. Stork spoke about his process and his inspiration, and also reminisced about his life and his career. He was born in Mexico; when he was six, his mother married a Dutch-born American citizen. His website relates how, already as a child, he wanted to be a writer, so his father gave him a portable typewriter on his seventh birthday. Two years later, the family moved to America, and Stork learned English, which is the language of his novels. When he was 13, he lost his father to a car accident. Later, he won a full scholarship to a Jesuit high school on the strength of his writing, then went to Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., on another full scholarship, majoring in English and Philosophy. He won a fellowship to attend Harvard for graduate school, then went to law school at Columbia University, making his first career as a lawyer. He published his first novel 20 years later. He retired from the legal profession in 2015, and has published 11 novels now.
Stork said he considers his inspiration while writing to be coming from a higher power. He writes for young adults, and his novels address “the big questions,” the answers to which he, at 71 years, still does not have. He is best known for the 2009 novel Marcelo and the Real World, where Marcelo, 17 years old and autistic, comes of age in the course of a summer he spends working in the “real world” of his father’s law firm.
The 28th season of Aquinas College’s Contemporary Writers Series has chosen Engaging a Beautiful Mind: Writing and Mental Health for its focus. The season will continue with a visit from essayist Jill Talbot, who will read from her work at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Kretschmer Recital Hall. The venue has undergone renovations over the summer.
Francisco X. Stork stands at the podium to read his book – photo by Anastasia Benstead
Students, faculty, and people in the greater Grand Rapids area fill in the seats to attend the CWS – Photo by Anastasia Benstead
The Saint 