Hesston College will welcome New York Times bestselling author Regina Calcaterra to campus Oct. 5 to discuss her book, which has served as the fall 2015 community read, as well as her advocacy work with foster care. The presentation will be at 7:30 p.m., in the Hesston Mennonite Church Sanctuary on the Hesston College campus. A follow-up question and answer session will be at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the Hesston Public Library.

The Oct. 5 presentation will be streamed live online through the Hesston College webpage, and will remain up for viewing past the presentation date as well.

Calcaterra’s book, Etched in Sand, (2013, William Morrow Paperbacks) has served Hesston College and the community as the fall 2015 community read. The book is the author’s memoir tracing her and her four siblings’ childhood experiences with abandonment, physical abuse and a fear of the foster system that was put in place to protect them. Small acts of caring laced in among the children’s pain makes their fearful existence survivable and acts as a stepping stone for each of them to boost his or her way out of the precarious cycle to become well-adjusted and successful adults.

Calcaterra is an attorney serving as deputy general counsel to the New York State Insurance Fund for the State of New York. She formerly served as the executive director of the Utility Storm Preparedness and Response Commission and the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption for the New York State Moreland Commission. She has also served as Chief Deputy County Executive in Suffolk County and as a frequent political commentator for major media outlets.