The Denison University Beck Lecture Series presents writer and poet Rebecca McClanahan at 8 p.m. on Monday (Oct. 4) in the Board Room of Barney Davis Hall (200 West Loop Road on the Denison campus). The lecture is free and open to the public.

McClanahan's most recent book is a collection of memoir-based essays, "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings." She also has published four volumes of poetry ("Naked as Eve," "The Intersection of X and Y," "Mrs. Houdini," and "Mother Tongue") and three books about writing, including "Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively" and "Write Your Heart Out."

Her work has appeared in many other publications -- "The Best American Essays," "The Best American Poetry," "Georgia Review," "Gettysburg Review," and "Boulevard." McClanahan has received numerous awards including a Pushcart Prize in fiction, the Wood prize from "Poetry", and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in nonfiction. She won the Carter prize for the best essay published in "Shenandoah" during the year in both 1997 and 2002.

McClanahan was born in Indiana into a career military family and traveled extensively throughout her childhood. She earned her undergraduate degree from California State University and graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina. For 15 years, she was the writer-in-residence for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (N.C.), but now lives in New York City. McClanahan still teaches in the master of fine arts program at Queens University in Charlotte, at the "Kenyon Review" Writing Program, and at the Hudson Valley's Writers' Center.

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