Josef Pieper said of modern civilization that our “ability to see is in decline”. We are blinded by ideologies and technologies that deny or distract from spiritual realities, and these affect the stories we tell, including much of what is presented under the name of "realism". Recognizing the poverty of a realism accounting only for the visible, a number of contemporary Catholic fiction authors have united under the banner of “contemplative realism”. In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, they seek to “ask rather more carefully what ‘the real’ actually is”. 

This event was in collaboration with Wiseblood Books, and included fiction readings and discussion with Katy Carl (Fragile Objects, editor-in-chief of Dappled Things) and Trevor Cribben Merrill (Minor Indignities) in a cozy apartment setting.

Poster: JP Talty