By Gabby Bonds
Elm Staff Writer
On Feb. 26, as part of the Rose O’Neill Literary House Spring 2025 Reading Series, best-selling author Christopher Tilghman visited Washington College to give a fiction reading from one of his older works.
Interim Director of the Literary House and Visiting Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing Roy Kesey introduced Tilghman to the podium.
Kesey recalled his own first encounter with Tilghman’s work, the short story “In a Father’s Place” in the 1990 edition of the “Best American Short Stories” anthology.
“His work has meant a great deal to me both professionally and personally,” Kesey said.
“In a Father’s Place” ultimately became the name of Tilghman’s first collection of short stories, one of which he chose to share with his audience.
“On the Rivershore,” the story Tilghman read, describes a young boy’s witness of the murder of a waterman on the Chesapeake Bay in the 1950s. Opening with an intense hook, the story immediately draws readers in by claiming that the boy, Cecil, watched Tommy get shot, he knew who shot him, and he knew why.
After beginning his story, Tilghman interrupted himself just once to explain the decision-making process behind his introduction at the time it was written.
“I had no idea who shot Tommy or why,” Tilghman said, to the amusement of the audience.
He then explained that at the time of writing, he accepted the hard task of following this bold introduction as a welcome challenge and encouraged other writers to do the same.
“The introduction was amazing, as he transitioned smoothly from beautiful, lyrical writing about the setting, a river along the Chesapeake Bay, to the startling event that sets off the narrative, a murder our young protagonist has witnessed,” sophomore Olivia Lee said.
Tilghman proceeded to read the rest of his story, which describes the chaotic sequence of events in which Cecil, his father, and a few other men dispose of Tommy’s body in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
“What stood out to me most was the way Tilghman weaves personal and historical reflection into the setting,” sophomore Alan Osorio-Bravo said.
To conclude his story, Tilghman jumps ahead 30 years to the 1980s and describes a scene in which Cecil, now grown and married with children, is walking along the Rivershore and reflecting on his life spent there.
When asked about his decision to end the story this way, Tilghman explained that he was fascinated with the silence between the two time periods that is full of narrative.
“Sometimes the story makes you do it. And so you do it,” Tilghman said. “You’d be a fool not to.”
Tilghman’s work was available for purchase after the reading through a recently established partnership between the Literary House and The Bookplate.
Interested students should be on the lookout for information regarding upcoming Literary House events. The next visiting author will be Andrew Mozina on April 9.
Photo by Ella Humphreys.
Photo Caption: Tilghman led a generative workshop the following day on Feb. 27.