The Nyack College Writing Center will present its “Get Creative” event this month on Thursday, March 15 in Shuman Hall, 185 South Highland Ave. in Nyack from 9:30 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. Author Emmanuel Jean-Pierre will read from his latest work, “The Book of Elyon.” A question and answer session will follow.
The Creative Arts Coordinator for Spiritual Formation and advisor for the Nyack College spoken word group, Loud Mouths, Emmanuel is a 2016 alumnus of the Master of Divinity program at Alliance Theological Seminary. He also earned an undergraduate degree in biology from New Jersey Institute of Technology. His initial intention was to pursue research in genetic engineering, but he says, “God had different plans.”
“My father was preaching at a service one Sunday,” he explains, “and an idea suddenly came to me: What if I rewrote biblical stories as fairy tales for kids to understand?” The rest is history.
“The Book of Elyon” can be purchased on Amazon. Though copies of the book will not be available the night of the event, Emmanuel is happy to autograph books for people who buy copies online and bring them to the event.