June 2005
Editor finds spiritual solace in nature
By: Michael O. Garvey
“Back to Earth: A Backpacker’s Journey into Self and Soul,” by Kerry Temple, editor of Notre Dame Magazine, has recently been published by Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Written during a painful and solitary period in its author’s life, “Back to Earth” is a carefully arranged retrospective series of autobiographical essays in which Temple, through a lens of past adventures, misadventures, journeys, encounters, insights and readings, reflects on the spiritual dimensions of nature and explores its potential to replenish the human soul.
One reviewer, Bill McKibben, author of “Wandering Home: A Long Walk through America's Most Hopeful Landscape,” wrote that Temple’s book “is about the missing things in our lives--which aren't necessarily the things we'd imagine. Instead of draining away, Kerry Temple's life was filling up. Quietly, subtly, but truly.”
A native of Shreveport, La., and a 1974 Notre Dame alumnus, Temple assumed the editorship of Notre Dame Magazine in 1995 after 10 years as its managing editor. He joined the magazine staff in 1981 after working as a writer in the University’s development office and in public relations. He has taught writing courses at Notre Dame, won nine national writing awards and has been cited four times in Best American Essays for stories that have appeared in Notre Dame Magazine.
Contact Kerry Temple at Temple.1@nd.edu