Callie Smith

The author of Ecclesiastes spent so much time lamenting the ephemeral nature of existence that I often wish he’d spent comparable time developing on how to live well in the face of that reality. But since he didn’t, I wrote the novella To Tend the Wind in hopes of exploring how we live with Ecclesiastes’ insights.

To Tend the Wind is the story of Kohelette, a woman who struggles to forgive life for letting her lose as much as she’s lost. Unlike the privileged male author of Ecclesiastes (after whom Kohelette is named), she doesn’t get to gloss over the details of her daily life and relationships. I wanted her story to unfold on those mundane, domestic, concrete levels that Ecclesiastes often shortchanges. I also wanted her to hold out a hope that Ecclesiastes often eschews as she keeps trying to find a way to do something at least a little bit new under the sun. The full novella is available at https://calliejsmith.net/ecc-project/.

About Callie

Callie J. Smith is a writer of fiction and creative non-fiction living in the Indianapolis area. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Ball State University and a Master of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary. Her books include a collection of essays titled The Beauty of Rest: Contemplative Essays and the Sacred Grounds trilogy whose final novel, The Joy of a Field, is forthcoming in autumn of 2024 by Clay Patin Press. For more information, visit www.calliejsmith.net