Tracey Levine, director of University Seminars and the Creative Writing major, entertained students, faculty, community members, and her family with excerpts from her debut collection of short stories, “At the Diner in Heaven,” on Oct. 23 in the Castle Dining Room.

Levine has taught at Arcadia for several years, but still had a hard time believing that she was getting to be the star of her own book event held at the University. 

“I am honored, but it feels surreal,” she said. “I attended so many of these as a student, and I have organized and hosted so many as a faculty member. I am proud of my work and very excited to share it with my Arcadia community.”

After a conversation with Daniel Schall, assistant professor of English, about the stories and her writing process, Levine read the title story. 

“I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that the title story has been something that resonates with a lot of folks because of its intimacy—people feel like they are in the room with the characters—and because of its subject matter dealing with difficult but loving relationships and substance abuse,” she explained.

Tamara Tarvin ’26, a Creative Writing major who commutes to Arcadia from South Philadelphia, delayed her drive home to attend Levine’s book launch.

“She’s my advisor, helping me through my courses and what credits I need to graduate,” Tarvin said. “So I was like, ‘Well, I gotta support Tracey.’ My last class today ended at 5:40 p.m., so I just figured I’ll just come after class and then go home after that.” 

Lynn Alford ’27, a Creative Writing major from San Antonio, Texas, praised Levine for helping her realize Arcadia was the right place to study.

“[She] is the person who kind of got me to Arcadia,” Alford explained. “When I was trying to narrow down schools, I thought, ‘Hey, I’m gonna message the head of Creative Writing and see what this whole major is about.’

“I’ve been wanting to get my hands on her book,” she continued. “I’ve been hearing about it for a hot minute. I believe I met Levine last November at a meet and greet for Arcadia, and her book was briefly mentioned. So I knew to keep a look out, and here we are.” 

Levine also read a second story, “Things Temporarily Hidden,” which appears toward the end of the book. The story involves making chicken soup, which Levine did and served to the students in her memoir class last semester.

The night ended with Schall reading three poems from his upcoming poetry collection, providing the audience a sneak peek at more to come from the English Department.