Photo by: Cameron Lemmon

Scott Blackwood, award-winning fiction writer, visited the University of Denver last Wednesday to read passages from his novel, We Agreed to Meet Just Here.

The novel, his first, recently won the Association of Writers & Writing Programs award. The reading was well received by the small but enthusiastic audience of about 20 people who gathered on an Indian summer afternoon at the Evans Chapel.

The DU English Department and the University Writing Program co-sponsored Blackwood’s reading. Blackwood introduced his novel by describing the time he spent on the Dobie Paissano ranch in Texas where he wrote most of the novel. He also described his encounters with Texas longhorn cattle and the impact of the Texas landscape on his novel.

He then turned to his novel and read several passages. More than once the Evans Chapel filled with appreciative laughter over observations he had made in the book, especially when describing the novel’s leading character, the sensuous 19-year-old lifeguard, Natalie. Blackwood said his piece “embodies a lot of the contradictions that Texas embodies.”

Blackwood, currently a program coordinator for the writing program at the University of Texas, gained some notoriety since the publication of his collection of short stories In the Shadow of Our House in 2001. A New York Times review said that this collection “was an impressive and accomplished debut.” All of Blackwood’s fiction is set in Austin, Texas.

“I was almost finished with In The Shadow of Our House when I started my novel,” said Blackwood.

Blackwood hopes to finish “the third piece in what will be a trilogy about Austin.” The same places in Austin continue to catch his attention with their “rich history.” After all, Blackwood reminded his audience “my novel is, in a lot of ways, about place.”