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Photo courtesy of Stephen Cavitt<\/p>\nProfessor Stephen Cavitt always had a love and passion for literature and writing. He recently took on his most ambitious career endeavor yet: writing a book series with accompanying audio.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to carve out writing time as a writing teacher,\u201d Cavitt said. \u201cConsistency is key, but it\u2019s also the hardest thing to do, because there\u2019s so many distractions in the modern world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cavitt and FGCU storytelling professor, Joel Ying, decided to do something about this and created a faculty writing group to set aside time to write consistently once a week. It was through this writing group that the idea for his book series came to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard this character start talking to me like, just what I threw out on the page,\u201d Cavitt said. \u201cIt seemed like they wanted to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He turned those stories into his book released in 2024, titled \u201cThe Distance Between Stars,\u201d which is structured as a series of monologues at the end of the world conducted by its narrator, aspiring journalist Niquish Fromer. It is the first book in what Cavitt envisions to be a four-part science fiction series called \u201cThe Und Wars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cavitt finds that as he gets older, he can use his literary storytelling to convey meaningful reflections on life that he wants to share with the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when we go into literature, planning to preach, we get something pretty dry and awful, but if we go into it and let the characters run loose, then they can show us what we actually think deep down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cavitt didn\u2019t stop at writing a book. He wanted to give the story the attention he felt like it deserves by creating a podcast version of his book that came out in Spring 2025. His first thought was for it to be expressed more as a podcast, and it became a book later in his writing time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPositive obsession helps when I get in a project, I\u2019m in that project,\u201d Cavitt said. \u201cOther people go out Friday night but I\u2019m thinking, \u2018okay, as soon as I finish grading this work, I can spend an hour or two finishing up this chapter.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Since he had nine characters, he wanted to find the perfect voice for them, so he recruited his friends and other faculty members from the FGCU Department of Language and Literature as well as held open auditions.<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy of Stephen Cavitt<\/p>\n
Cavitt started teaching at FGCU in 2018 and from the moment he first interviewed, he knew it would be the right fit for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like an interview, it felt like we were all friends sitting around and talking about teaching, exchanging ideas,\u201d Cavitt said. \u201cThis place is filled with people who are excited to go to work\u2026and that was really exciting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the faculty members on the call for his initial interview was FGCU Creative Writing Coordinator Lori Cornelius. She also felt this connection with him and became one of his close friends at the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think both of us being Southern, there was just kind of this instant connection,\u201d Cornelius said. \u201cI\u2019ve been on a lot of hiring committees, and it was just super personal and a lot of fun and I remember we hung up the phone and I said, \u2018I really hope that we hire this guy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Cornelius was one of the nine people Cavitt enlisted to help bring his characters to life for the podcast version. She voices Literature Professor Leslie Rhodes, who saves a baby and adopts it on the way to the ship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of got the feeling somehow Stephen had written that part for me,\u201d Cornelius said. \u201cI think the one thing I would say is I am the kind of person who would find a child on the trail and adopt it, that sounds like something I would do.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, something she wouldn\u2019t normally do if it hadn\u2019t been for Cavitt\u2019s request is sing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not know he was going to ask me to sing. I don\u2019t sing. I\u2019m not a singer, but he has me sing a gospel tune in there, \u2018Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,\u2019\u201d Cornelius said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cornelius used to be in radio before transitioning to academia, so Cavitt was excited to share her talent with the campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy pitch for the entire campus, every time somebody asks about the podcast is, I\u2019ll say, \u2018Do you want to hear Lori Cornelius sing gospel?\u2019 And everybody does, it\u2019s a win-win,\u201d Cavitt said.<\/p>\n
With the novelette taking place during the end times and Cornelius\u2019 character raising new life at the same time, it presents a message of hope which made the singing seem fitting to Cornelius.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the music of my childhood. It\u2019s what I grew up around, even though I didn\u2019t appreciate it or even like it at the time,\u201d Cornelius said. \u201cIt felt right to sing it, and it felt like the right choice for the character that he had written.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cornelius\u2019 husband, John Cornelius, was the sound engineer behind the podcast project. From the time recording first started in 2021 until the podcast\u2019s release in 2025, he was behind it all cleaning it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had forgotten my husband\u2019s a perfectionist, so it took forever to get it all done, but it worked out ok,\u201d Cornelius said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another thing that keeps Cavitt busy is his other podcast, \u201cThe Poetry Professor,\u201d where he shares the poems he writes and explains his thought process behind them. In this way, he can expand his teaching to a larger audience other than his students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone can say anything about a poem,\u201d Cavitt said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t usually hear the poets themselves talk about the choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other professors at the University of North Florida and the University of Florida use his podcast transcripts to help with their own teaching. It is also in use in the United Kingdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Due to the podcast\u2019s success, he received funding to continue his work from the President\u2019s Circle of Excellence, a program that recognizes those who want to make a tangible difference in FGCU\u2019s future. He hopes to do more outreach for this podcast this semester.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPoetry helps me make sense of a confusing world and affirm that the world is sacred even in times when it\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n