Please join the Kenyon College Bookstore in welcoming David Lynn '76 to read from his new book, "Rebuilding the Goat Walk: A Devon Eco-Memoir."
Lynn began what would be his 50-year relationship with Devon, England, at the same time the Kenyon-Exeter Program launched. He lived in Exeter near the program’s directors, John and Maryanne Ward, in 1976-77, and he returned in 1992 to lead the program for over 35 years with his wife Wendy Singer. In "Rebuilding the Goat Walk: A Devon Eco-Memoir," Lynn tells the story in compelling prose and lyrical remembrance. Like many love affairs, this one began as a series of chance encounters, fated to ripen over the decades into an abiding connection, especially with the small town of Topsham on the River Exe.
The timeline allows Lynn to bear witness in these pages to the profound changes — from climate to human challenges as well — wrought through the decades by gradually increasing storms, floods, and economic shifts that have altered the very life of this town, this river, and the communities that have lived in this region for many generations.
Lynn, an award-winning fiction writer and essayist, was the editor of the famed Kenyon Review for more than twenty-five years and a longtime professor of English at Kenyon. He and his wife Wendy Singer, a noted historian of India, co-directed the Kenyon-Exeter Program on four separate occasions, deepening the ongoing relationship with this exceptional community.
This book is a must-read for alumni and future members of the Kenyon-Exeter Program.