Author Walter Kirn Visits McKinley

By Ashley McBride

Walter Kirn, author of "The Unbinding," visited McKinley and held a question and answer session about his book with students in Dr. Anna Kinsman's English IV class. Kinsman is a member of the Pen/Faulkner program, which gives high school students free books and the opportunity to meet the authors of the books they read. Kirn is one of this year's Pen/Faulkner authors.

"The Unbinding" was first published online at Slate.com, the first of novel of its kind. It explores the electronic invasion of privacy and internet exhibitionism.

"It gave me an insight into reality. I realized that everyone has multiple identities, even me," said Antwaun Jefferson, 12th Grader.

The author had similar views.

"We are in a society where privacy is being eroded," said Kirn. "At the same time people are opening up their lives to the world on social forums like MySpace and Facebook."

Students were able to ask Kirn questions about his novel and he explained what he was thinking when he wrote certain sections.

"I thought his novel was appropriate for our students because of his commentary on the impact of technology on our culture," said Kinsman. "It was especially relevant because our high school is technology based."

Kirn is the other of five other fiction books, one of which was made into a movie, "Thumbsucker." But with this novel he did something he never did before. Before releasing the book, he put together an interactive online book guide to help the readers understand more what was going on. Throughout the novel different words are bolded and if readers want to learn more about the term in bold, then they may go online to the site.

Unfortunately, a fire drill during second period interrupted the class and everyone was forced to relocate outside, where Kirn, without hesitation continued the discussion with students huddled around him.

"I enjoyed the visit," said Tashawna Brown. "The author was energetic, down to earth, funny and understandable."

By Anna Kinsman |  October 5, 2007; 9:30 AM ET News
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Posted by: Bookworm | October 5, 2007 6:40 PM

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