Writer and investigative reporter Ann Hagedorn Auerbach will return to Denison University, her alma mater, for a Beck Lecture Series appearance at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (April 5) in the University Room of Slayter Hall. Auerbach will read from her works. Her appearance is free and open to the public.

Auerbach was an investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the San Jose Mercury News before joining the New York Daily News as an editor. She then pursued a career as a freelance writer. She has written two books,Wild Ride: The Rise and Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm, Inc.(1994) andRansom: The Untold Story of International Kidnapping(1998). She is working on a book about the underground railroad that will cover the dangerous work of abolitionist John Rankin of Ripley, Ohio.

Ransomtells the story of five men kidnapped while hiking in the mountains of Kashmir. The book touches on several international kidnapping stories and raises questions as to the effects of globalization on communities around the world. Auerbach suggests in the book that the growing number of kidnappings were a symptom of deeper problems in society. InWild Ride, Auerbach uncovered the greed that led to the death of Calumet Farm's famous racing stallion, Alydar. The horse, insured for $36.5 million, had come to be worth more dead than alive. The book launched a government investigation of the incident.

A 1971 graduate of Denison with a bachelor's degree in history, Auerbach also earned a graduate degree in library science from the University of Michigan and a journalism degree from Columbia University.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

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Barbara Stambaugh

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