Dr. John Vanderslice, associate professor of creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas, will talk about his new book on KUAR’s radio program “Arts & Letters” on March 17.
The 29-minute episode, “Days On Fire: The Life and Work of Vincent Van Gogh” will air at 7 p.m. and was produced for NPR-member station KUAR (89.1 FM). It explores the tumultuous days of painter Vincent Van Gogh from his early life in Holland to his hospitalization in St. Paul’s Asylum in Saint Remy.
During the show, Vanderslice and executive producer and host J. Bradley Minnick discuss Van Gogh’s many obsessions, including the painter’s relationships with religion, women, family and work.
“This episode will appeal to anyone ever inspired by Van Gogh’s fiery palette,” Minnick said. “Writer and professor John Vanderslice’s inspired fiction about Vincent Van Gogh paints pictures of the places the artist frequented, the times in which he lived, and is inspired by Van Gogh’s faith that his work might resonate with those in the future.”
During the episode, Vanderslice reads and describes a series of fictional sketches in which the painter interacts with his siblings, confronts his father, elicits help from his brother Theo, and observes and paints the world outside his window at St. Paul’s Hospital.
Vanderslice writes: “Stretched across his bed, he stared at the squat window. Through the small square of glass, he saw the world outside like a landscape on the wall: the broad flat field that lay to the east and abutted a collection of winter bare trees, stoic and senseless. That’s how he would paint this place he saw from his cell window—this studio Peyron had allowed him—even if these colors never really registered in his eyes.”
Music for the episode is provided by Silas Hite and performed by Katie Abendroth, Ethan Young, Open Fields, Starr Mitchell, R. Ring, Rodney Block, Josiah Simpson, Brian Nahlen, Wil Vanderslice and Amy Jo Savannah.
Vanderslice teaches in UCA’s Creative Writing program. His short stories, essays, poems and one-act plays have been published in more than 80 journals and anthologies. His short story collection, “Island Fog,” was named by “Library Journal” as one of the Top 15 Indie Fiction titles of 2014. His historical novel, “The Last Days of Oscar Wilde,” is forthcoming in 2017 from Burlesque Press.
“I consider myself a careful, diligent and, most of all, patient writer, but ‘Days on Fire’ pushed me to the limit of my sensibilities,” Vanderslice said. “Conceived in 2001, my research did not begin in earnest until 2004, and then that research continued for four years before I began writing. Then the process of writing, revising, cutting, shaping and editing the book took almost five more years. I thought I had the final draft of the book several times before I did.”
For more information about the book, contact Vanderslice at 501-450-3653 or johnv@uca.edu.
Produced by Minnick and Christopher Hickey, “Arts & Letters” is an educational radio show that strives to enlighten its audience and is dedicated to showcasing aspects of the humanities and literary arts in Arkansas and beyond. This program was made possible through a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. After the broadcast on March 17, the “Arts & Letters” podcast can be accessed online at artsandlettersradio.org, iTunes and the NPR Podcast page.
For more information, contact Hickey at 501-569-8485 or Minnick at jbminnick@ualr.edu.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Music, and Film, Theatre and Creative Writing, as well as the School of Communication. The College’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call 501-450-3293.
