Dr. William Woolfitt
Dr. William Woolfitt, assistant professor of creative writing at Lee University, has finished his second book, “Charles of the Desert,” set to be published on Feb. 28 by Paraclete Press.
Dr. Woolfitt’s second book of poetry tells the story of Charles de Foucauld who experienced a profound spiritual transformation before becoming a missionary to the Tuareg in southern Algeria in 1901. Mr. De Foucauld is best known for writing the “Prayer of Abandonment,” a common prayer of surrender in Christianity.
According to Dr. Woolfitt, he first learned of Mr. De Foucauld in 1997, during a time of his own spiritual awakening. Nine years later, he began working on the project that would become “Charles of the Desert.”
“I'm delighted and humbled at the publication of ‘Charles of the Desert’,” said Dr. Woolfitt.
Dr. Woolfitt joined Lee University’s Department of Language and Literature in fall 2012 where he teaches creative writing and literature. He earned his doctorate in English and his Master of Fine Arts from Pennsylvania State University. He received his master’s from Hollins University and his bachelor’s from Fairmont State College.
“Charles of the Desert” follows “Beauty Strip,” Dr. Woolfitt’s first full-length book of poems, and his chapbooks “The Salvager’s Arts,” co-winner of the Keystone Prize, and “The Boy with Fire in His Mouth,” winner of the Epiphany Editions contest.
Dr. Woolfitt’s poems and stories appear in such publications as Shenandoah, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Threepenny Review, Notre Dame Review, New Ohio Review, The Cincinnati Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Ninth Letter, and River Styx, among others.
To purchase “Charles of the Desert,” visit http://www.paracletepress.com/charles-of-the-desert.