with visiting writer Deb Olin Unferth in conversation with Patrick Cottrell ’04
The 2026 Vane Creative Artist Series was hosted on October 1.
About the 2026 series
Reading and writing can offer new ways of understanding ourselves and the world around us, particularly in times of personal, cultural, and environmental loss. In this conversation, author Deb Olin Unferth and alumnus and novelist Patrick Cottrell will explore how writers respond to a world in transition—and how reading can help us navigate uncertainty, grief, and change.
Unferth will read from her new novel, Earth 7 (Graywolf 2026), which explores climate disaster, grief, and humanity’s relationship with the planet. She will then join Cottrell, author of Afternoon Hours of a Hermit (HarperCollins 2026), for a conversation about adaptation, transition, and change—central subjects in both of their work.
Together, Unferth and Cottrell will consider what continues to make the novel “novel” and how writers find new ways to see and reflect on ourselves and the world around us. Their conversation will explore what reading and writing can offer when the world seems lost—and how literature might help us imagine what comes next.
Contact Meghan Maloney-Vinz at mvinz01@hamline.edu with questions about the Vane Creative Artist Series.
