Butler University

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend... satire, gallows humor and science fiction. As a citizen he was a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a critical liberal intellectual. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to third-generation German-American parents, Kurt Vonnegut, Sr. and Edith Lieber. Both his father and his grandfather Bernard Vonnegut attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and were architects in the Indianapolis firm of Vonnegut & Bohn. His great-grandfather Clemens Vonnegut, Sr. was the founder of the Vonnegut Hardware Company, an Indianapolis institution. Vonnegut graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in May 1940 and matriculated into Cornell University that fall. Though majoring in chemistry, he was Assistant Managing Editor and Associate Editor of The Cornell Daily Sun.
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Maurice Kenny is a Mohawk poet. Maurice Kenny was born on in Watertown, New York. His father is a Mohawk from Canada, and his mother was born in... Upstate New York. The family spent time living both on and off the nearby reservation. Kenny's father was a stern man, given to rough treatment of his son, and at 16 Maurice ran away from home, living in New York City for a brief period before returning home. Maurice Kenny lives between Saranac Lake, and Potsdam. He occasionally teaches at North Country Community College, and retired from his teaching duties at SUNY Potsdam in 2011. Kenny was educated at Butler University, St. Lawrence University and New York University, where he studied with American poet Louise Bogan. Kenny was co-editor with Josh Gosciak of Contact/II, a literary magazine, and editor and publisher of Strawberry Press in the 1970s and 1980s. Strawberry Press published poems and artwork, often in postcard form, by Native Americans. Kenny read his poetry in New York City at the Poetry Festival at St. Clement's Church, West 46th Street, Manhattan, and at Waterways Project readings and book fairs, among other venues.
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Gerald Neal Williamson wrote and edited horror stories under the name J. N. Williamson. Born in Indianapolis, IN he graduated from Shortridge High... School. He studied journalism at Butler University. He published his first novel in 1979 and went on to publish more than 40 novels and 150 short stories. In 2003 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers of America. He edited the critically acclaimed How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction which covered the themes of such writing and cited the writings of such writers as Robert Bloch, Lee Prosser, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, William F. Nolan, and Stephen King. Many important writers in the genre contributed to the book. Williamson edited the popular anthology series, Masques. Some of his novels include The Ritual , Playmates , Noonspell , The Haunt , among others. He was also a well known Sherlockian and received his investiture in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1950.
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James Alexander Thom is an American author, most famous for his works in the Western genre and colonial American history; known for their historical... accuracy borne of his painstaking research. Born in Gosport, Indiana, he graduated from Butler Universitywith a BA in Journalism and served in the United States Marine Corps. He taught a course in journalism at Indiana University, and was a contributor to the The Saturday Evening Post.
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