The 2025 ACE Festival Welcomes
Rev. Dr. David Williams
Keynote Address
10:15 - 11:15 am, Wednesday, April 16
Lehman Auditorium
A Conversation with David Williams, author of When the English Fall: Faith and Meaning When Our World Falls Apart
Who is David Williams?
The Rev. Dr. David Williams is the author of numerous books, including The Prayer of Unwanting (forthcoming, February 2025), Christ and the Multiverse, Our Angry Eden, and his debut novel When the English Fall, a work of postapocalyptic Amish fiction published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. When the English Fall received starred reviews from Kirkus, Library Journal, and others, and was described by the New York Times Book Review as a “sly parable for climate change.” It was one of Amazon’s top 100 books of 2017, was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and was nominated for the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award.
Rev. Williams has been interviewed about his writing on multiple nationally syndicated radio programs and podcasts both national and international, and on regional broadcast television. His recent invited appearances include the Decatur Book Festival, the Virginia Festival of the Book, the Religion News Association Annual meeting, and others. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in WIRED, The Washington Post, Presbyterian Outlook, OMNI, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Geez, and others.
Rev. Williams is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He currently serves Poolesville Presbyterian Church, a small congregation in a small town in rural Maryland. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Religious Studies, and received both his Masters of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. Before entering the ministry, he worked for ten years at the Aspen Institute, managing a grantmaking program that funded research into nonprofit organizations, NGOs, and voluntary activity.
He blogs at belovedspear.org, and lives in Annandale, Virginia, where he spends his days gardening, writing, caring for aging parents, and generally leading a far quieter life than this bio might suggest.
When the English Fall has been selected for EMU's Common Read book in 2024-25.
ACE Festival Keynotes
The ACE Festival invites keynote speakers to engage the community in conversations around values that are important to us at EMU. The speaker is typically selected with the themes of the year's Common Read in mind. We invite engagement and response from diverse perspectives, and encourage continued conversation around these themes.
