Jessica Bendzick/ Winonan

“I feel like I’m ready to command a starship up here,” author Steve Almond said after he was welcomed to the podium last Monday at the kickoff of Winona State University’s Great River Reading Series.

He then moved to sit down at the center table and said, “I kind of feel exposed.”

On Monday, Sept. 22, students, faculty, staff and community members gathered in the Science Laboratory Center to listen to Steve Almond read some of his work and ask questions.

Almond, who writes both fiction and nonfiction, was a newspaper reporter in Texas before he published his first book. He said he originally wanted to be a journalist, but in his late twenties, he realized that reporting was not meant for him.

“Your heart gets bored with your mind, and it changes you,” Almond said.

He said that reporters ask about the outsides of characters, but he desired to go deeper and write about the insides. So around the age of 30, Almond enrolled into graduate school.

He read excerpts from his books God Bless America and Against Football and gave his fans a taste of Letters from People Who Hate Me.

Almond said after Against Football was published, he started receiving a large amount of hate mail.

“I get so much hate mail because I write about stuff that certain Americans get freaked out about,” Almond said.

He began sorting through all of his hate mail and responded to some of the letters. Letters from People Who Hate Me consists of some of his hate mail and his replies back.

In one of the letters, an angry fan said his daughter looked like a maggot. In turn, Almond played it off and said, “I think it might be from the kind of soap we were using.”

Almond said the purpose for putting a book together of his hate mail was to show what is happening in this country.

“The people who wrote these letters have a disproportionately loud voice in this culture. They are more politically active and are running a lot of things,” Almond said.

After Almond was done reading, he took time to answer questions. In answering a question, he said one of the most difficult things for him as a writer is distancing himself from technology.

“The whole thing with writing is arresting your attention in the midst of distraction,” Almond said, “The Internet takes you away from your character and your feelings.”

He said he encourages young writers to avoid the Internet as much as they can in the midst of their writing.

Freshman Hannah Carmack attended the Great River Reading Series kickoff for her introduction to creative writing class. In class, she read God Bless America and stayed to get her book signed by Almond afterwards.

Carmack said she enjoyed Almond’s voice, the way he presented himself and the comedy he added to his presentation.

“He’s a lot more soft in person and significantly more humanistic than just reading a fictional voice,” Carmack said.