Alumna announces donation at book signing

Alumna Connie Willis conducted a book signing and presentation for her latest novel, “Blackout,” Tuesday in Michener Library. More than 250 people attended the event.
Willis graduated from Colorado State College, now UNC, in 1967 with a bachelor of arts in English and elementary education. She dedicated her life to writing after her daughter was born and has written more than 10 science fiction novels. 

“I love reading,” Willis said. “I loved reading from the moment that I was born. And when I could not read, I knew that reading held all the keys to happiness in the whole world. As soon as I learned to read, it was true. It was all the happiness in the world. So, I think I became a writer because I loved to read, and I wanted to be part of that world.”

Willis also announced the donation of all of her research and manuscripts to the University of Northern Colorado Archives. Willis donated more than 100,000 pages of her research.

All of her work will be archived and eventually available for the public to read and study. Some of the archived work will be converted to digital records.  

Jay Trask, head of Archival Services, said there are several ways that this donation will benefit students. Trask said it’s just kind of cool for students to touch the real thing, and it will allow students to have a direct access to all aspects of the creative process and an inside track to how the writing process works.

Trask and Dean of the University Libraries Gary Pitkin were instrumental in working with Willis to procure her research for the archives. The donation process for this work began more than 20 years ago, when UNC began to speak to Willis about donating her work to the archives.

Pitkin said Willis’ work was chosen because she is a UNC alumna and her roots are in Greeley. He said she is a prolific writer and a very important science fiction writer.

“Probably one of the main reasons why we sought Connie was because of her dedication to teaching and learning and working with students and wanting to be sure that aspiring writers have access to the process of writing,” Pitkin said. “She is a person who is absolutely dedicated to education and knows that education makes a difference in people’s lives for the rest of their lives. And consequently, we wanted to make sure that the material was available here.”