Press Release

Luke Jerod Kummer

WARSAW — On Thursday, March 25, author Luke Jerod Kummer will be visiting an English 111 class at Ivy Tech Community College Warsaw.

Kummer recently published the historical novel “The Blue Period,” and will be speaking about how he comes up with, develops and revises writing topics, using his recent novel as an example.

The event is also open to the public. Anyone can register at link.ivytech.edu/Kummer.

“It is an honor to be invited to chat with Ivy Tech students and guests about ways to bring more empathy into our writing,” said Kummer. “What enticed me to draft “The Blue Period,” a novel about Picasso’s turbulent youth in turn-of-the-century Barcelona and Paris, was how, in the wake of tragedy, his plaintive artworks were dedicated to revealing the suffering and humanity of the vulnerable people he witnessed around him. I look forward to discussing together ways we can also try to put ourselves in the places of our subjects and use our words to expand readers’ capacity for empathy.”

English 111 students write numerous papers and will benefit form learning how they can become better at developing and revising their own writing following his strategies. Students and guests will also learn context about the artist Picasso and how Kummer effectively researched for his accurate historical portrayals.

“We are grateful that Mr. Kummer has taken the time from his very busy schedule (he is in the middle of deadlines for his second novel) to chat with our class about writing and revision and how history intersects with the present,” said Shari Benyousky, English instructor at Ivy Tech Warsaw. “We are very lucky to have the opportunity to learn in this unique way that Zoom and Ivy Tech and the era of COVID-19 have created.”

Kummer is a writer and an editor. His work has appeared in the “New York Times, “The Washington Post,” “New Republic,” the “Washingtonian,” “Bloomberg Businessweek,” the “Village Voice,” “Literary Hub” and “The Millions.” Kummer’s new historical novel “The Blue Period” reimagines the tragic events coloring the somber-toned palette that a young Pablo Picasso used for painting portraits of shared suffering and despair during the first years of the 20th century.