Distributed November 1, 2000
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Mary Jo Curtis



President’s Lecture Series

Author Barry Lopez to speak on social responsibility Nov. 15

National Book Award winner Barry Lopez will present a President’s Lecture titled The Writer and Social Responsibility on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. —Award winning author Barry Lopez will present a President’s Lecture titled The Writer and Social Responsibility on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000, at 6:30 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, located on The College Green.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but because seating is limited, tickets will be required. Tickets will be available without charge on a first-come, first-served basis in the Salomon Center lobby one hour before the lecture.

Lopez, a National Book Award winner for Arctic Dreams, is the author of two collections of essays (Crossing Open Ground and About This Life) six works of nonfiction and eight works of fiction, including Winter Count, Field Notes and the acclaimed Arctic Dreams. His latest work, Light Action in the Caribbean, a collection of short stories, will be published this month by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. His work appears regularly in Harper’s, The Paris Review, DoubleTake and The Georgia Review.

In addition to the National Book Award, Lopez is a recipient of an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim and Lannan fellowships, the John Burroughs Medal, Pushcart Prizes in fiction and nonfiction, and other honors.

Lopez grew up in southern California and New York City. He attended college in the Midwest before moving to Oregon in 1968, and he has traveled extensively to remote parts of the world. His first stories were published in 1966, and he has been a full-time writer since leaving graduate school in 1970. His latest work, Light Action in the Caribbean, has been described as “a masterful work of fiction ... that balances the marvelous and the real, intellect and heart, with extraordinary grace.”

The President’s Lecture Series was established in 1992 by former Brown President Vartan Gregorian to “enhance the intellectual and cultural life of both Brown University and the greater Rhode Island community ... and to pay tribute to men and women of uncommon distinction and achievement.” Past lecturers have included Maya Angelou, Tony Kushner, Eli Wiesel, Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer and Wilma Mankiller, among others.

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