By the time Azlan Smith ’10 arrived at Amherst, he had written more than seven hundred short stories and knew that writing would be his life’s work. He drew inspiration from the writings in which he immersed himself during years of home-schooling, and for a long time he took as his mentors Emerson, Orwell, Socrates, Tolkien, Montaigne, and London. Exceptional figures may, in their most varied ways, be fine role models and stimulating company for an aspiring writer. What was lacking was the personal touch. The Schupf Scholars Program provided that connection.
    David Sofield, Samuel Williston Professor of English at Amherst, met weekly with Smith and offered his thoughts about the substance, style, and technique of Smith’s stories. The two talked about Professor Sofield’s experiences as a published writer, about the authors they most admired, about the strength and will needed to create art, about deep questions that for generations have led writers to take up their pens. “Professor Sofield treated me as a fellow writer,” Smith said. “What transpired during our meetings was serious and offered me a sense of legitimacy and direction as a writer. I wouldn’t be in the same place right now without him.”
    Professor Sofield’s advice took Smith all the way to Vietnam. When considering what he might do using support offered through the Schupf Program, Smith turned to his mentor. “I asked Professor Sofield if I should do a writing workshop or, perhaps, return home to refine my work during Interterm. Strangely, we came to the same conclusion. What I should do had nothing and everything to do with writing. It had to do with living.”
    Smith developed a proposal to spend three weeks traveling through Vietnam, and it was fully funded through the Schupf Research Fund. “I wanted to see myself in a world that I could not imagine, to test myself,” he said. A nature enthusiast, Smith was surprised that it wasn’t the exquisite landscapes of Vietnam that touched him most, but rather its people, about whom he now has many stories yet to write. With Professor Sofield’s help, Smith said, “I am paying full heed to the words of Henry David Thoreau: ‘How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.’”