Writing and the Art of Attention

Religious traditions insist on the importance of cultivating our faculty of attention, whether it be attention to ourselves, others, our environment, or the presence of the divine in any of these three. This panel will explore whether and how the practice of writing, especially fiction writing, helps us cultivate this art of attention. What is it about writing, and the imagination and patience required, that helps us learn how better to attend? The panelists are Stephanie Paulsell, Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies, HDS; C.E. Morgan, author of the novels All the Living and The Sport of Kings, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Chris Adrian, novelist, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Learn more about Harvard Divinity School and its mission to illuminate, engage, and serve at http://hds.harvard.edu/.