SUNY Sullivan Administrator is Featured Author
LOCH SHELDRAKE, October 2021 — SUNY-Sullivan’s interim Vice-President of Academic and Student Affairs, Lawrence Weill, is not only an administrator in higher education, but also a published author. He was recently named a featured author for the 2021 Kentucky Book Festival, an annual juried celebration of the best books in Kentucky, Dr. Weill’s home state. His latest release and fifth novel, Silas LaMontaie, will be featured at the event. Other authors featured at the festival include Bobbie Ann Mason, Silas House, Wendell Berry, and others.
The story of Silas LaMontaie is described as follows:
Young Silas’ world is transformed when his father is implicated in the arson of the sugar mill in their south Louisiana town. If he didn’t do it, why run? What is it they are hiding from when they leave their Cajun home, first upstate, then, when the past catches up to them, to the river bottoms of Kentucky? Wherever they go, they take their heritage and values with them, as well as their secrets. Silas LaMontaie learns his life lessons well as he pursues his muse, the beautiful and enigmatic Jessie May, and later learns to be a musician. Silas LaMontaie is a literary novel of intrigue, wit, and family wisdom full of the colors, sights, and sounds of the south. Ultimately, it is a story of determining one’s values and remaining true to those.
Silas LaMontaie is available on Amazon.
Dr. Weill is a Kentucky author and artist whose previous books include The Path of Rainwater, Out in Front, Incarnate, and I’m in the Room. His fiction, poetry and nonfiction have appeared in a wide range of local, regional, and national journals. He is also a visual artist and an avid outdoorsman.
Prior to his life as a writer and visual artist, Dr. Weill worked in academia, as a professor of philosophy and ethics for some 25 years, then as an academic dean and later as a college president. He holds degrees in mathematics, humanities, and higher education.
The Kentucky Book Festival will occur through a mix of virtual and in-person events from November 1-5, with a daylong, in-person celebration at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington on Saturday, November 6, featuring 140 authors.
Find more information at kybookfestival.org.