Frederick Buechner - Important Dates

Important Dates

• July 11, 1926 born in NYC
• 1936 father commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning
• 1937 family moves to Bermuda until evacuation of Americans at beg. of WWII- 1943 graduates Lawrenceville School (NJ)
• 1944-6 serves in army
• 1943-8 attends Princeton University
• 1948 wins Irene Glascock Prize for Poetry; begins work on his first novel, A Long Day’s Dying
• 1948–53 teaches English at Lawrenceville
• 1950 A Long Day’s Dying published
• 1952 The Season’s Difference published
• 1953–55 lives in NYC; lecturer at New York University

• 1954 – 8 enrolled at Union Theological Seminary; also works at Harlem employment clinic
• 1955-6 year off from seminary to write; meets and marries Judith Buechner
• 1955 short story "The Tiger" wins O. Henry Prize
• 1958 publishes The Return of Ansel Gibbs; book receives the Rosenthal award
• June 1, 1958 ordination as an evangelist with B.D. from Union Theological Seminary
• 1958–1960 chaplain and chairman of Dept. of Religion at Phillips Exeter Academy
• 1960-7 school minister and teacher of religion at Phillips Exeter Academy; daughters are born
• 1963-4 sabbatical in VT
• 1965 The Final Beast published
• 1966 first theological work The Magnificent Defeat (collection of school sermons) published
• after 1967 moves with family to Rupert, VT to pursue writing full time
• 1969 second book of sermons, The Hungering Dark, published
• 1969 delivers William Belden Noble Lectures at Harvard
• 1970 Harvard lectures published as The Alphabet of Grace (theological autobiography on a day in his life)
• 1970 The Entrance to Porlock (retelling of The Wizard of Oz) published
• 1971 Lion Country published (first of tetralogy on Leo Bebb); nominated for National Book Award
• 1971 Russell Lecturer at Tufts University
• 1972 Open Heart (second of tetralogy on Leo Bebb) published
• 1974 Love Feast (third of tetralogy on Leo Bebb) published
• 1974 Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC
• 1974 The Faces of Jesus (book of pictures with text by CFB) published
• 1976 Lyman Beecher Lecturer at Yale; lectures published in same year as Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale
• 1977 Treasure Hunt (fourth of tetralogy on Leo Bebb) published
• 1979 The Book of Bebb published
• 1977 Telling the Truth: The Gospel in Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale published
• 1979 Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who published, with illustrations by daughter Katherine
• 1980 Godric published; Pulitzer Prize finalist
• 1982 D.D. from Virginia Theological Seminary; archive established at Wheaton College
• 1982 The Sacred Journey (first volume of autobiography) published
• 1983 Now and Then published (second volume of autobiography)
• 1984 A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces published
• 1985 semester-long teaching position at Wheaton College; offers manuscripts to the college
• 1987 Christianity and Literature Belles Lettres Prize
• 1987 Brendan published
• 1988 Whistling in the Dark: An ABC Theologized published
• 1990 The Wizard’s Tide published (later re-released as The Christmas Tide)
• 1991 Telling Secrets (third volume of autobiography) published
• 1992 Wiersma Lecturer at Calvin College
• 1992 The Clown in the Belfry: Writings on Faith and Fiction published
• 1992 Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner published
• 1993 The Son of Laughter published
• 1996 The Longing for Home published
• 1997 On the Road with the Archangel published
• 1998 The Storm published
• 1999 The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found (fourth volume of autobiography) published
• 2001 Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought to Say) published
• 2004 Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith published
• 2006 Secrets in the Dark published
• 2008 The Buechner Institute inaugurated at King College
• 2008 The Yellow Leaves: A Miscellany published