LU Emeritus Professor publishes second novel
Lakeland University Emeritus Professor of Writing Jeff Elzinga’s second novel, “Pigeon Falls,” was published this week by Water’s Edge Press.
“Pigeon Falls” follows surveyor Tom Bishop and his small band of coworkers, a traveling crew of wind turbine builders, to an out-of-the-way corner of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area for one final project of the season before winter arrives. During their week amid this distinctive landscape, unforeseen challenges test the crew’s character and threaten to pry the team apart.
Caught up in the ordeals are a pig farmer hell-bent on reversing generations of family failure, a young newly-wed resisting an abusive husband, and other local citizens living the quintessential life of folks in small-town America. Tom Bishop must also come to terms with his own undiagnosed health issues and whatever legacy a childless, divorced man can hope to leave behind.
In “Pigeon Falls” the disabling effects of hardship and greed are laid bare, yet in the end it is a story that resonates with solidarity, resilience and hope.
Elzinga served Lakeland for 20 years as a professor and educational leader. He was interim vice president for academic affairs two times and acting dean of the School of Humanities and Fine Arts, in addition to various other roles.
He helped to create and directed for its entire 17-year run Lakeland’s Malawi Teacher Education Program, through which 75 bachelor or master degrees in education were awarded to teacher trainers from Malawi. More than 300,000 children in Malawi have benefitted from the program.
He retired from Lakeland in 2018. He received the LU Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award in 2002.
A graduate of St. Olaf College and Columbia University, he was a foreign service officer of the U.S. State Department, serving in Tunisia and Malawi, prior to joining Lakeland’s faculty.
Softcover versions of “Pigeon Falls” are available to order from the publisher athttps://www.watersedgepress.com/. Digital editions are available via Bookshop.org or wherever E-Books are sold.
His first novel, “The Distance Between Stars,” is the story of two Americans divided by history and skin color. Published in 2020, it was chosen as a finalist in the Midwest Book Awards and a 2020 Notable Indie from Shelf Unbound.
Learn more at jeffelzinga.com.
