The Denison University Beck Lecture Series will host Pulitzer Prize winning literary critic Michael Dirda at 8 p.m. on Thursday (April 7) in the Barney-Davis Hall Board Room (200 West Loop). This event is free and open to the public.

The winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism, Dirda has worked as a senior editor and writer forThe Washington Post Book Worldfor the past 20 years. He is the author of several non-fiction books includingReading and Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education,which was named a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Current Affairs.

Dirda's best-selling memoir about growing up in Ohio,An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartand,was the winner of the 2004 Ohioana book award for non-fiction. Calling this book "quietly dazzling," the Los Angeles Times Book Review says, "Dirda pairs the elements of a traditional memoir -- childhood remembrances depicting the path from naive understanding to a more mature perspective -- with books that illuminated that path for him. His journey portrays not a life saved but one expended, defined and enriched by books. Ultimately, this is a love story, full of passion for literature and marked by intellectual vigor."

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 of the fund, 10 to 12 writers read from their works and participate in master classes each year. The last writer is scheduled to appear this semester is poet Mary Szybist on April 14.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville - The Harriet Ewens Beck Fund presents literary critic Michael Dirda; 8 p.m., Thursday (April 7), Barney Davis Board Room (200 West Loop). Free and open to the public. Call (740) 587-6207 to confirm information.

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