FORMER FACULTY PROFILE
Brian Staveley, BB&N faculty member from 2002-2013, now a
Adventurer for Life: Brian Staveley by Al Rossiter, Faculty Emeritus
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successful author residing in Marlboro, Vermont, speaks about one of his graduate school professors at Boston University who began a class on Pilgrim’s Progress this way: “This is the most difficult book I have ever read, and I hope to make it difficult for you as well.” Something in the professor’s comment resonated with Brian. It’s the old learn by doing, learn by making mistakes, taking risks, accepting challenges. This became a mantra for Brian at BB&N, where, for ten years, he taught, coached, and was a Bivouac guide. He believes that students learn best by dong, by having to figure it out on their own, and by not having information spoon-fed. Brian, now as writer and outdoor adventurer, continues to live by this wisdom. “I’ve always wanted to write. Out of Dartmouth, I started writing poetry, but quickly realized I could never make any money with poetry, so, hey, why not try teaching? I stayed at BB&N for ten years because I liked everything about it— the freedom to teach what I wanted, the coaching, Bivouac, the kids, my colleagues.” A somewhat restless man who likes challenge doesn’t stay in one place for too long. So, after five years, Brian took a break, spending a year traveling in Mongolia, China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. He then returned to BB&N. In Mongolia, he began writing what is now his most successful epic fantasy novel, The Emperor’s Blades (now translated into 13 languages) and where he learned about yurts. At BB&N he taught in the winter in a yurt located on the baseball field. While at BB&N he taught The Art of Literary Translation, Introduction to Poetry, Creative Writing, Playwriting, The Ancient World, Medieval Europe, World Religions, 28 22
PICTURED: 1. Brian Staveley 2: Staveley at BB&N Bivouac in 2005 and Philosophy. If there had been a single Humanities Department, Brian surely would have been its leading member. Sam Wallis ’10 speaks of Brian as writer and teacher: “His writing pulls you in as a reader the same way his courses pulled you in as a student because he isn’t just relaying a story, he’s actively sharing it, and that energy comes across.” Sarah Parkinson ’05, who was in his 10th grade English class, his advisee, and member of Brian’s fencing team, puts it this way: “Mr. Staveley was remarkable for his perceptiveness and his interest in his students as people. He had this ability to see past our classroom identities—the shy kid, the funny kid, the athletic kid—to identify potential that we might not have seen in ourselves.” As a child, Brian liked climbing trees. “My buddy and I would find a tall tree, climb it, and from the top look for a tree that was even taller.” So, from a very early age, he learned to love the outdoors and the challenges that the natural world provides, free of charge. In fact, during the summer of 2018, Brian will compete in a 100-mile race in the mountains between Austria and Italy. I asked him about outdoor learning, the education, say, that Bivouac provides as opposed to what happens in a classroom. His answer: “In a classroom, learning can feel abstract. Students often have to take on faith what the teacher or the text tells them. At
Bivouac or on a 10-mile adventure race through uncharted woods, there are immediate and tangible benefits and detriments.” As a Bivouac guide, he didn’t tell his 9th graders how, for example, to set up an A-Frame to create a secure eating area. They just got enough advice to get them started— then they had to solve problems on their own and “if it rains, well they’ve got to figure that out so they won’t get wet the next time. Immediate consequences.” Mark Fidler, Bivouac Guide and one of Brian’s former colleagues, puts it this way: “Brian loved Bivouac and Bivouac loved him…. He loved that Bivouac is designed to push freshmen out of their comfort zone, and so Brian thrived there. His passion for the natural world and the Bivouac world were infectious.” Katie Gayman, another former BB&N colleague, comments on the same theme as follows: “Train a group of students to compete in a 12-hour winter adventure race in the mountains of Vermont. Anything is possible. To be in Mr. Staveley’s orbit was to feel elevated.” (It is perhaps noteworthy that Mark Fidler, Katie Gayman, and Brian Staveley all attended Dartmouth College.)
of finding his way when there was no path to follow would, as an adult, be drawn to fantasy writing. His novels are filled with characters (with wonderful names like Annur, Kaden, Valyn, Pyrre, Ruc) who have various challenges and trials, who are tested, sometimes triumphing and sometimes failing. Mystery, intrigue, and love triangles, all in a fantastic setting. “Writing is like magic,” Brian says. “First there is a blank page, and then there are words, a character, a scene. What’s both tricky and challenging is that there are no guide rails when you are writing. You’re making it up, and it works or it doesn’t. It’s never a fully linear process. I rarely know how the work will end.” Brian speaks fondly of Ursula K. Le Guin and George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones author), both of whom have been mentors for him. Brian is married to Johanna, who, he says on the acknowledgement page of Skullsworn, “believed in (this book) and me more powerfully than I did.” They have a six-year old child, Felix, who, when asked what was behind one of his baby teeth, which had just fallen out, replied “a grownup.” They live in Marlboro, Vermont at the top of a steep hill. A quiet place to write epic fantasies, to explore the woods with family, and to have all kinds of adventures. v
One can imagine why a bright and curious child, who loved exploring the woods, who thrived on the challenge 29