About
Jeff Elzinga graduated from St. Olaf College and Columbia University. He has lived two rewarding careers. As a foreign service officer of the U.S. State Department, he served in Tunisia and Malawi. Then, for more than 20 years he was a college instructor, retiring in 2018 as Emeritus Professor of Writing at Lakeland University in Wisconsin.
Featured Work
Pigeon Falls
Pigeon Falls follows surveyor Tom Bishop and his small band of coworkers, a traveling crew of wind turbine builders, to an out-of-the-way corner of Wisconsin's Driftless Area for one final project of the season before winter arrives. During their week amid this distinctive landscape, unforeseen challenges test the crew's character and threaten to pry the team apart.
Caught up in the ordeals are a pig farmer hell-bent on reversing generations of family failure, a young newly-wed resisting an abusive husband, and other local citizens living the quintessential life of folks in small-town America. Tom Bishop must also sort out his own undiagnosed health issues and come to terms with whatever legacy a childless, divorced man can hope to leave behind.
In Pigeon Falls the disabling effects of hardship and greed are laid bare, yet in the end it is a story that resonates with solidarity, resilience, and hope.
Other Works
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The Distance Between Stars
2020
Awards and Recognition
- The Distance Between Stars - Finalist, Midwest Book Award - Literary Fiction
