Distinguished Writers Series

Faculty Organizer:

Keith Kopka

The Holy Family University Distinguished Writers Series was established in 2019. Events take place biannually, and the series is committed to bringing visiting authors and scholars to the campus of Holy Family University each academic year for free, public readings, as well as student specific events. Distinguished Writers Series is dedicated to promoting diversity, social awareness, critical thinking, as well as furthering Holy Family University’s mission and core values of community, respect, integrity, experiential learning, vision, and service. Through its dedication to the university mission, The Holy Family University Distinguished Writers Series offers an intellectual environment that fosters the free exchange of ideas, as well as the opportunity for participants to challenge and expand their perspectives by engaging with writers, scholars, and thinkers of different backgrounds, ethnicities, viewpoints, and writing styles.

The Distinguished Writers Series for spring 2026 features a reading from John Vercher

The event takes place on 4/14/26 at 6:30 pm on the main campus of HFU in the ETC auditorium and the event will also be streamed on Zoom

Vercher’s debut novel, Three-Fifths, was named one of the best books of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune and was nominated for: The 2020 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, The Strand Critics Award for Best Debut Novel, and he was Shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey First Novel Dagger. In the U.K., Three-Fifths was named a Book of the Year by: The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and The Guardian. Rights to Three-Fifths have been sold in France, Japan, Spain, Brazil, Germany, Mainland China, and the U.K.

His second novel, After the Lights Go Out, was published by Soho Press on June 7, 2022. French, Swedish, German, and U.K. rights have also been sold. After the Lights Go Out was called “simply brilliant” by Publishers Weekly in a starred review and “shrewd and explosive” by The New York Times. BookRiot selected the novel as a 2022 Best Book of the Summer, Publishers Weekly included it in their Summer Reads 2022 list, and Booklist named it an Editors’ Choice in Adult Fiction for 2022.

Devil Is Fine, Vercher’s latest book, has received starred reviews from Booklist and BookPage, was named a Best New Book of the Summer by TIME Magazine and The Root, an Indie Next pick for July, one of the top ten books to add to your reading list in June by the Los Angeles Times, a June book pick by The Center for Fiction, one of the 12 Must-Read Books of June by The Chicago Review of Books, a Book of the Day for July by NPR, and was featured on NPR’s It’s Been A Minute. Additionally, Devil Is Fine was named one of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 by TIME Magazine, a Best Novel of 2024 by Electric Lit, Jezebel, and The Chicago Public Library. It was also Long-listed for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize, the Mark Twain American Voice Award in Literature Award, and for the the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

John Vercher lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. John currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in the Department of English at Monmouth University (where he also served as the ‘24-’25 Artist-in-Residence) and core faculty at Randolph College’s low-residency MFA program in Lynchburg, Virginia. John also served as the inaugural Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence at the University of North Carolina Asheville.