The Denison University Beck Lecture Series will host nature writer Franklin Burroughs Jr. to read and discuss an essay he wrote about artist John James Audubon. This event, set for 4:30 p.m. on Thursday (Nov. 4) in the Barney Davis Board Room, is free and open to the public.

Burroughs served on the English department faculty at Bowdoin College from 1968 until his retirement in 2000. He is widely acclaimed for his essays which explore topics such as a child's view of nature and that of a father, our predatory and sympathetic responses to animals and the intersection of the active life of outdoor adventures with the reflective life of poetry and story-telling. Burroughs' work has been included in publications such as the Kenyon Review, Harper's Magazine, The American Scholar and the Georgia Review and he won critical acclaim for his two booksBilly Watson's Croker SackandHorry and the Waccamaw.

Burroughs earned his bachelor's degreemagna cum laude(1964) from the University of the South and both his master of arts degree (1965) and doctorate (1970) from Harvard University. In 1994 Burroughs was awarded a fellowship in creative non-fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Beck Lecture series was endowed in memory of Harriet Ewens Beck to bring outstanding writers to the Denison campus. The series has hosted such writers as Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, Tom Stoppard and W.S. Merwin. Under the sponsorship fund, each year 10 to 12 writers read from their works and participate in master classes.

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:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575