Scott Cawelti is the author of “Brother’s Blood: A Heartland Cain and Abel,” a gripping true-crime analysis of a shocking murder that took place in 1975 Cedar Falls, Iowa.
He came to Iowa City to read at Prairie Lights, and sat down to discuss how to write about people who are still alive, the connection between music and writing, the “imagined probabilities” of nonfiction, and writing’s state of grace.
Cawelti was born and raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He attended the University of Northern Iowa (UNI),graduating with a vocal music education degree in 1965 and a Master’s Degree in English in 1968,and a PhD in Modern Letters from the University of Iowa in 1978. Dr. Cawelti taught at UNI from 1968-2008 and continues to teach a variety of courses as an adjunct since his retirement. He has published two writing textbooks and edited “The Complete Poetry of James Hearst” (University of Iowa, 2001).
