Sheldon Vanauken is one of Will's favorite authors. He corresponded with Vanauken during the last year of his life. Van, as he was known to friends, was a professor of history and English literature at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia.  He is best known for his autobiographical book A Severe Mercy (1977), which recounts his and his wife Davy's friendship with C. S. Lewis, their conversion to Christianity and their subsequent dealing with the "severe mercy" of Davy's death. Vanauken was also the author of a booklet detailing his conversion to Christianity, Encounter with Light (1960),  a novel, Gateway to Heaven (1980), a sequel to A Severe Mercy entitled Under the Mercy (1985), The Glittering Illusion: English Sympathy for the Southern Confederacy (1985), Mercies: Collected Poems (1988) and The Little Lost Marion and Other Mercies (1996).

Will is in the process of researching and writing the first biography to ever be written and published about Sheldon Vanauken.  If you would like to share your memories of Van with Will you may email him by clicking here: will@willvaus.com.