“How does one take the Books and make them sing in a daily life?” asked Salvatore Scibona, class of 1997 alumnus of the college and speaker at the 220th Commencement ceremony in Annapolis. A noted author, Scibona shared his love of books, learning, and the college in his commencement speech delivered to the graduates, family, and friends gathered on the campus front lawn. He celebrated the achievements of the 119 graduating seniors who received bachelor’s degrees and 24 students from the Graduate Institute who received master’s degrees. Graduating seniors came from 34 states and eight foreign countries.
With warmth and humor, Scibona encouraged Johnnies to use their liberal arts education as a tool “to exercise our will and choose our life in a daily way,” adding that the books “will be a fountain of happiness for the rest of our lives.”
Scibona’s first novel “The End” was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and winner of the Young Lions Fiction Award from the New York Public Library and the Norman Mailer Cape Cod Award for Exceptional Writing. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010 and a Fulbright Fellowship in 2000. His short fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and an O. Henry Award, and has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Threepenny Review, and other publications. He was named one of the New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” writers to watch in 2010. Scibona administers the writing fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass.
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