UD's Honors Program to Host Writer Joseph Orso this Halloween at Casper Creek Natural Cemetery

GALENA, Illinois - The University of Dubuque Honors Program will host a public reading by writer Joseph Orso at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, October 31, 2026, at Casper Creek Natural Cemetery in Galena, Illinois.

Held on Halloween, the event is free and open to the public. It will include a Q&A session.

Orso's new book, On the Threshold of Worlds: Tending My Father Before and After His Last Breath, meditates on the American approach to death and dying.

After graduating in 2005 from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and working as a religion reporter until his late 20s, Orso met his wife and walked away from journalism. They now live in an old log house they rebuilt in rural, southwest Wisconsin, where they homeschool their two children, don't have plumbing, use a small battery for electricity, and live on land with his mother.

During a decade hiatus from writing, Orso learned carpentry, farming, and splitting wood. In 2023, he began writing again. His writings have appeared in Parabola magazine, Front Porch Republic, and on Orso's Substack.

The public reading will be held rain or shine.

For more information about the event, please contact Adam Smith, PhD, professor of political science, at adamsmith@dbq.edu.