Robin Clair
In 2016, Robin received her second Center of Artistic Endeavors Fellowship to work on “Blood into Water.” Inspired by the Bolivian Water Wars, Robin’s second novel is both a stand-alone novel and a sequel to her first novel, “Zombie Seed and the Butterfly Blues: A Case of Social Justice” (Sense/SpringerLink, 2013), which college students downloaded more than 5,000 times in its first year. Robin’s first novel is used in organizational communication, sociology, and rhetoric undergraduate courses at several universities. Robin was invited to give lectures at three different colleges – including Columbia University, Manhattan College, and Northern Illinois – after its publication.
Robin’s third novel, partially funded by a College of Liberal Arts summer research grant, was completed during the coronavirus quarantine and addresses the quarantine of a family during the pandemic that followed the Civil War in the 1860s, in which four brothers fought for the North, two for the South, and one remained a conscientious objector. The publisher has nominated “Buried Together: A Story of Quarantine and a Question of Conscience” for three awards: The National Book Award, The James Mooney Distinguished Anthropology Award, and The Anisfield-Wolf Award. Winners for these awards are announced in late fall of 2021, spring of 2022, and fall of 2022, respectively.
Congratulations, Professor Clair!
David A. Reingold
Justin S. Morrill Dean
College of Liberal Arts