Charles J. Shields

Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series, has contributed an article titled, “If Jesus Did Stand-Up: The Comic Parables of Kurt Vonnegut” to the quarterly journal, Studies in American Humor, for the fall issue.

Also, Shields will present at two conferences in late May: first, at Biographers International Organization (BIO), May 18-21 in Los Angeles, he will appear on a panel, “Ex-Wives, Angry Children, and Other Delicate Relationships,” about working with the relatives of a biographical subject. He will also teach a workshop on literary biography with Tracy Daugherty, author of “Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller.” Later that week, on May 26, he will appear the panel, “Kurt Vonnegut and Biography” at the American Literature Association conference in San Francisco.

Charles J. Shields

Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series, will present a talk at Mary Baldwin College on Wednesday, March 28. The public reading is part of the SWAG Writers (Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta Group of the Blue Ridge Writers Club) Reading Series. For more information about the reading, visit http://augustafreepress.com/2012/03/20/swag-writers-presents-biographer-kurt-vonnegut-harper-lee/.

In an episode of the television program “Jeopardy”  that aired on Friday, Feb. 24, the final question referenced Charles J. Shields’ biography “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life.” Shields is associate director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series.

The question, in the category of literary biographies, was:

“Quoting a famous line of his, a 2011 biography of this man was titled ‘And So It Goes’.”

Charles J. Shields

Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series, will speak at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in Grapevine, Texas. The conference will take place from July 20 to 22.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, Shields will speak to the Baltimore Science Fiction Society about Kurt Vonnegut, American author of a number of fantasy novels.

Charles J. Shields

Charles J. Shields,  associate director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series, has an article appearing in the March/April issue of Writer’s Digest magazine. The article, “Research like a Pro,” is a step-by-step guide to finding and organizing information for a fiction or nonfiction writing project.

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, Shields will speak to the President’s Community Advisory Committee about the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series. The committee serves as a resource to the University of Mary Washington President and administration on issues relative to the university and the minority community.  The committee is comprised of a diverse group of minority citizens of the greater Fredericksburg region, including professionals in the fields of higher education, secondary education and administration, the ministry, business, real estate, government and law.

On Saturday, March 31, Shields will appear at the Maine Festival of the Book with Chip Bishop, author of “The Lion and the Journalist,” about the friendship Theodore Roosevelt and Joseph Bucklin Bishop. The author is Bishop’s great-grandnephew. The topic of the panel is ” The Quick and Dead: Writing about Someone You Knew or Admired.”

William Crawley

William Crawley, director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series, and Charles J. Shields, associate director, will be featured on AM 1230 WFVA. The interview, which will air Sunday, Jan. 15 at 8 a.m., will focus on the upcoming season of the lecture series.

Shields talks about his book, And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life, in a segment on the syndicated Colorado public radio program, Page by Page. The segment originally aired on Tuesday, Jan. 10 and is available online at http://www.aspenpublicradio.org/pod_listen.php?row=2126.

Charles J. Shields

He also shares the book in an interview on AARP Prime Time Radio, taped on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

In addition, Shields discusses the life of Harper Lee in a video on the Biography Channel website.