CSM’s Nov. 4 Connections Literary Series Features Professor Emeritus Wayne Karlin Sharing His Recently Released Novel, ‘A Wolf by the Ears’

The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) continues its Connections Literary Series this fall with a reading from CSM Professor Emeritus Wayne Karlin during a free and virtual event Nov. 4, 2020. In the webinar, Karlin will discuss A Wolf by the Ears – his recently released novel that tells the story about thousands of enslaved people from plantations across the Tidewater who rallied to the British side, turning against an American republic that had barred them from the promises of freedom and democracy during the War of 1812.

Set against the backdrop of rebellion and war, A Wolf by the Ears follows the interconnected stories of Towerhill and Sarai, two of the enslaved, and their master, Jacob Hallam. Educated side-by-side and inseparable as children, as the three come of age, they are forced to grapple with—and break free of—the fraught linkage of black and white Americans and how differently each defined what it meant to fight for freedom: Sarai and Jacob caught in the tension between the dream of equality, the reality of slavery and their own hearts, and Towerhill at the head of a company of black marines that is part of the force that takes Washington and helps burn the Capitol and the White House.

Karlin, of St. Mary’s City, is an award-winning author and former CSM faculty member. He is the author of seven novels and three non-fiction books, including Wandering Souls: Journeys with the Dead and the Living in Viet Nam. He is the recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Patterson Prize in Fiction, the Vietnam Veterans of America Excellence in the Arts Award, and the Juniper Prize in Fiction for A Wolf by the Ears.

A decorated Vietnam veteran, Karlin served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1963 to 1967. His experiences there and his reaction to those experiences have played a major role in the themes of his subsequent work. CSM created the Wayne Karlin Creative Writing Award in recognition of the professor emeritus who helped inspire the college’s Connections series. Announced by CSM Languages and Literature Professor Neal Dwyer, the award is also designed to encourage CSM students who show exceptional skill with creative writing as expressed in their coursework or participation in the college’s literary magazine, Connections.

For more information at Karlin visit http://wayne-karlin.squarespace.com/

To order A Wolf by the Ears:  https://www.umasspress.com/9781625345035/a-wolf-by-the-ears/ and enter the code S7F7 for a 30 percent discount.