As a student writer, musician and painter, Steve Amick ’86 personified the interdisciplinary nature of the arts at St. Lawrence. Today, he has settled upon writing as his principal vocation. His debut novel, The Lake, The River & The Other Lake, earned several awards and has a new film option on it. His second novel, Nothing But a Smile (2009), has been widely praised. His short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and several anthologies, and aired on National Public Radio (NPR). Other writings have been published in The New York Times andthe Washington Post.

Amick has also continued with music. At St. Lawrence he was part of a rock band, The Angry Neighbors.  In 1989 he recorded a 45 “that charted on some East Coast college radio charts,” he says, “then in 2004 “recorded a CD of original songs, There’s Always Pie, produced by alt cult guy Jim Roll.” His college friend Erik Esckilsen ’86, who is also a novelist, played on several tracks.

In college, Amick lived in the Creative Expression Theme House; majored in English, publishing stories regularly in the two student literary magazines on campus and winning a writing prize; studied on St. Lawrence’s London program; and “won the student art show for a painting that includes the lake that was part of the inspiration, years later, for my first novel.” He was class president for three years and was a member of the English honorary, the Irving Bacheller Society.

After graduation, he earned his Master of Fine Arts in Writing from George Mason University, taught creative writing for two years and then worked in advertising, winning awards for his copywriting.  He also wrote plays that were produced in Chicago, winning first prize in a short play festival that included playwrights such as David Mamet. Then, “After decades of thinking it wasn’t going to happen, I sold my first novel at the age of 40,” he says.  “Life keeps adding new chapters you can never predict.”

St. Lawrence “laid a strong writing foundation from my first semester on,” he says.  “The faculty take writing seriously.  There are actual writing prizes to win.  The student magazines are a great forum to explore having a sense of readership. All this creates an environment where you can find fellow student writers with whom to discuss and share your work.”