Wallace State to Host Best Selling Author Shelby Van Pelt

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — Wallace State Community College will welcome New York Times best-selling author Shelby Van Pelt on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 9:30 a.m. in the Bailey Center Auditorium.

Van Pelt is the author of Remarkably Bright Creatures, Wallace State’s Common Read selection for the 2026-2027 academic year. The novel has sold more than four million copies and has been adapted into a Netflix film starring Academy Award winner Sally Field, which received a 2026 Emmy Award for Outstanding Movie.

The event is free and open to Wallace State students, employees and the community. A question-and-answer session will follow Van Pelt’s presentation.

Through the Common Read program, a selected book is integrated into courses across the college to provide students with a shared academic experience and promote campus-wide engagement with literacy and learning.

English instructor Doran Smith said students in English 101 classes are currently reading the novel and will use it as the basis for a literary analysis essay later this semester.

“Parts of the story are told from the perspective of Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus,” Smith said. “These sea creatures have great intelligence, so Marcellus discusses both his own biology and foreign relationships of humans in a cold or clinical manner. His observations of Tova and Cameron (the novel’s human protagonists) are treated with that same diagramming language and analytical mind.”

Smith said that the book could also offer opportunities for discussion in biology, psychology and sociology courses.

Previous Common Read selections include Big Fish: A Novel of Mythical Proportions, The Art of Racing in the Rain, The Fault in Our Stars, The Small and Mighty, The Noticer, and Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work.

The Fall 2026 semester is underway, with Mini Term II classes beginning Oct. 14. Priority registration for Spring 2027 will begin Oct. 19. For more information, visit www.wallacestate.edu or call Lion Central at 256.352.8236.

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About Wallace State

Wallace State Community College (Ala.), a member of the Alabama Community College System, is a comprehensive community college in north central Alabama offering more than 200 options in academic, health and technical programs of study leading to an associate degree, certificate or transfer, as well as workforce-credit training and adult education. An Achieving the Dream Leader College, nationally recognized by the Aspen Institute as a Rising Star for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, ranked by Southern Business and Development among the Top 3 institutions in the South for workforce development, named a Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing and the National Security Administration, rated the Top Online Community College in Alabama, a Military Friendly Institution and an All-Steinway School, Wallace State is an outstanding place for students to pursue their education and career goals. Classes are offered online and on campus, day, evening and on weekends, with numerous start dates each year. Visit Wallace State’s beautiful main campus located on 300-acres in Hanceville, Ala., our satellite location in downtown Oneonta, Ala., find us online at www.wallacestate.edu, or call 256.352.8000.