Dr. Stanley Lombardo traces his love of storytelling back to his grandfather, Carlu Lombardo.
“My grandfather was literally the village storyteller of Pietraperzia, Sicily,” said Lombardo. “Whenever someone was sick, when they were laid up and shut in, he would go and tell them stories…he would go entertain them and keep them company.”
Lombardo has added to that family tradition by writing more than 20 books that serve readers from childhood through adulthood. He will share tales from his lifetime of storytelling during an RPL Author Series event at Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center on the Arkansas Tech University campus in Russellville on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Lombardo recalls loving books from an early age. His father took him to the local library on a regular basis. That love of books was nurtured by high school teachers such as Mildred Meese, an author who encouraged Lombardo while he worked on the literary magazine at Amherst Central High School in Buffalo.
Lombardo went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Indiana University.
He started publishing his work around the same time he joined the ATU faculty in 1977. Today, in addition to his writing, Lombardo continues in his role as professor of English in the ATU Department of English and World Languages.
“If I get an idea, I try to make it live,” said Lombardo. “One of the things I enjoy the most about writing is trying to make the characters real…trying to make them seem like someone you would meet and someone you would know. I often have fun with that because I give them little quirks of one sort or another. A character without any flaws is boring. How many people do you know that don’t have at least a little bit of a flaw? I’ve yet to meet one. People are not perfect.”
Lombardo’s presentation at ATU on Feb. 24 will begin at 6 p.m. in room 300B of Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center, 305 West Q Street in Russellville. The talk is entitled “Myths, Mysteries and Moose: The Eclectic Works of Stan Lombardo.” Admission will be free and open to the public.
The author’s aspirations for the audience’s reaction to his presentation are simple.
“I hope they walk away with a sense that they’ve heard a good story…that they’ve heard some things that they wouldn’t have normally encountered in the ordinary run of things in Russellville, Arkansas,” said Lombardo. “All throughout my books, I have homages to the books and the authors who have inspired me to emulate their work while adding a touch of my own. I hope people will leave with a sense of satisfaction and a sense of pleasure. I write for the fun of it and to entertain people.”
Teaching also remains fun for Lombardo, even as he navigates his 49th year in the classroom at ATU. His son, Lucas, is a freshman at Arkansas Tech.
Lombardo is approaching the record for most years on the Arkansas Tech faculty, which is held by the late Dr. Richard Cohoon at 52 years.
“The job relates very closely with my writing,” said Lombardo. “I can teach gifted students. I teach Latin now. I’m a Medievalist, so I teach Medieval literature from ‘Beowulf’ through Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy.’ I teach the courses I enjoy, and the job allows me time to write. It’s a very congenial and collegial atmosphere here at Tech. I treasure that, and I’ll be here until Lucas graduates, anyway.”
