Dean Bakopoulos among authors to visit UW-Whitewater this fall
Released: September 21, 2006
Dean Bakopoulos, executive director of the Wisconsin Humanities Council and author of the highly acclaimed novel, "Please Don't Come Back from the Moon" will visit the UW-Whitewater campus on Tuesday, Sept. 26.
Of "Please Don't Come back from the Moon," Publishers Weekly said, "A moving "debut novel about the mysterious disappearance of the men from a working-class suburb of Detroit." (P)art "fable and part gritty realist chronicle... the book is a kind of elegy for [a] generation of downtrodden working-class men, but their disappointments are tempered by the modest hopes and ambitions of their sons in this gentle and moving tale."
Bakopoulos will speak to Alison Townsend's class "The Current Writing Scene" from 12:30 p.m. until 1:45 p.m. in room 214 of Heide Hall. He is also the featured reader at the Works in Progress Cafe from 4:30 p.m. until 5:45 p.m. at the Bassett House, 708 W. Main St.
The events are free and open to the public. However, if you'd like to attend the class presentation, please contact Townsend at townsena@uww.edu. To get involved with the Works in Progress Cafe, contact Andrea Musher at mushera@uww.edu
"The opportunity to meet with authors whose books are being read and discussed in class offer students a valuable array of stimulating models, and provides them with a comfortable, intimate forum in which to ask questions about the creative process, literary craft, and the writer's life," Townsend said.
The other authors visiting campus this semester are:
Judith Mitchell, author of "The Last Day of the War" and a professor at UW-Madison, will speak on Tuesday, Oct. 10 from 12:30 p.m. until 1:45 p.m. in room 214 of Heide Hall and again at the Works in Progress Cafe from 4:30 p.m. until 5:45 p.m. at the Bassett House, 708 W. Main St. According to Booklist, "Mitchell's novel is based on her friend's great-aunt's letters describing her work as a YMCA volunteer in France in 1919, where and when she met an Armenian who had lost his family. It is the story of a Jewish girl from St. Louis and an Armenian American soldier at the end of World War I [and] encompasses the full spectrum of joy and torment that is the human condition."
Amaud Johnson, author of the book of poetry, "Red Summer," which won the $10,000 Dorset Prize from Tupelo Press for a first book of poems will speak from 12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24 in room 214 of Heide Hall and at the Works in Progress Cafe from 4:30 p.m. until 5:45 p.m. at the Bassett House, 708 W. Main St. Johnson also teaches creative writing at UW-Madison. "Red Summer" according to Amazon, "This haunting debut collection explores a rash of race riots that swept the United States during the summer of 1919. With a tender lyrical quality, reminiscent of the blues, Johnson moves through trauma and personal catastrophe to champion the endurance of the human spirit. "
Jesse Lee Kercheval, is the final of the guest lecturers. She is the author of numerous books including the memoir, "Space" and a book of poetry, "Dog Angel." Kercheval is also a member of the writing faculty at UW-Madison and is the current Sally Mead Hands Bascom professor of English. She will also present to Townsend's calls from 12:30 pm. To 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14 in room 214 of Heide Hall and at the Works in Progress Caf? from 4 p.m. until 5:45 p.m. at the Fern Young Terrace (please note the change in location.) Of "Space," Amazon says, "her tender memoir of growing up in Cocoa, Florida, [just miles from Cape Canaveral], is also a masterful snapshot of America in the late 1960s -- a superbly woven web of fact, metaphor, and dreams."
To attend "The Current Writing Scene" class, please contact Townsend at her email address.
"We're fortunate to have so many excellent writers of national repute living in Wisconsin," Townsend said. "Bringing them into our community and interacting with them in a close way can help us reach within ourselves and find the words and stories that help us understand ourselves and our world. I am especially excited about the ways all these writers articulate big issues of our times, locating the individual story within larger social, historical and political contexts."
Funding for the speakers is being provided by the Department of Languages and Literatures and the College of Letters and Sciences.
- Sara Kuhl,kuhls@uww.edu
