Tuesday October 21
Native American Oral Tradition: The Stories and Storytellers with N. Scott Momaday
12:15 pm, Ted Mann Concert Hall
Referred to as "the dean of American Indian writers" by The New York Times, Scott Momaday holds an important place in the American literary arts. Momaday was the first Native American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, /House Made of Dawn./ His has won the 2004 UNESCO Artist for Peace, in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a writer and painter and his efforts to safeguard Native American heritage, and in 2007, the National Medal of Arts, presented at the White House. He is also the poet laureate of the state of Oklahoma. But it is through the spoken word that his dedication to his people's heritage is most profoundly felt. Born a Kiowa in the Oklahoma Dustbowl, Momaday was raised on reservations in the Southwest, steeped in the oral tradition.
Tuesday October 28
Andrea Elliott in Conversation
7:30 pm, Coffman Theater
Elliott writes for the New York Times, where beginning in March, 2006, she published a Pulitzer Prize-winning three part series "An Imam in America," on the inner life of a mosque in Brooklyn, and the "dynamic, creative, conflicted and fearful imam at its center": Sheik Reda Shata. This exploration of the lives of immigrant Muslims after 9/11 is part of a wider body of work which includes a series on Muslims in the U.S. military. The Edelstein-Keller Endowment co-presents with Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs: a "Good Societies" Dialogue with Lawrence R. Jacobs, Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair in Political Studies.
Wednesday October 29
Junot Diaz: "We Are the New America: A Reading"
7:30 pm, Coffman Theater
Diaz published his debut novel /The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao/ eleven years after his acclaimed short story collection /Drown/--and ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Novel of 2007. New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani characterized Diaz's writing in the novel as: "a sort of streetwise brand of Spanglish that even the most monolingual reader can easily inhale." Professor Evelyn Ch'ien will interview Diaz as part of the program. Reception and book-signing to follow. Esther Freier Endowed Lecture Series in Literature.
Thursday October 30
Andrei Codrescu
7 pm, Minneapolis Central Library
Romanian-born poet, novelist, screenwriter, and commentator on National Public Radio. His newest collection of poetry, JEALOUS WITNESS, is published by Coffee House Press. Pohlad Hall, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis. Free. 612-630-6174
Monday November 3
Thomas Lynch Reading
7:30 pm, Cowles Auditorium
Thomas Lynch is an essayist, poet, and funeral director of Lynch & Sons funeral home in Milford, Michigan. His most recent book is /Booking Passage: We Irish and Americans/. He is most well-known for essay collections about his funeral home experiences: /The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade/ and /Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality/—both of which Alan Ball has cited as inspiration for the TV series /Six Feet Under/. An Edelstein-Keller Visiting Writer.