Warren Wilson College is set to welcome back Richard Russo, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and one-time professor in the College’s famed MFA Program for Writers, as the 2015 Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecturer Saturday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. in Canon Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and one-time MFA Program for Writers professor Richard Russo is the 2015 Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecturer Saturday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. in Canon Lounge at Warren Wilson College. Photo by Elena Seibert
“We are delighted to host Richard Russo,” said Paula Garrett, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College. “Russo is known for capturing American culture, especially small-town America. His work is renowned, and we are fortunate to have him here as the Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecturer this year.”
No stranger to Warren Wilson College, Russo taught in the renowned MFA Program for Writers and is called “one of the best novelists around” by The New York Times Book Review. Russo is the author of seven novels, including the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner “Empire Falls,” which was made into an HBO miniseries starring Paul Newman. His 2012 memoir, “Elsewhere,” was called “a brave little book in which a writer spins deprivation into advantage, suffering into wisdom, and a broken mother into a muse,” by The Washington Post.
The Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecture plays a central role in the cultural life of the College and community. Previous featured speakers include Debra Allbery, Clarissa Sligh, Kevin McIlvoy, Elizabeth Kostova, Alan Jabbour, Diane Gilliam, Tony Earley, Holly Iglesias, Peter Turchi, Fiona Ritchie and Warren Wilson College President Emeritus Doug Orr.
For the first time, the Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecture joins the annual Spotlight Series, titled “My America, Whose America,” which presents an opportunity for the community to connect with award-winning thought leaders and social justice activists. Rounding out the series Feb. 20, 2015, the College will host “The Soul of the Activist” symposium featuring Mandy Carter, the 2016 activist-in-residence, alongside religion and culture intellectuals.
For more information about the Spotlight Series, please visit warren-wilson.edu. For more information on Richard Russo, please visit prhspeakers.com.
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About Kat McReynolds
Kat studied entrepreneurship and music business at the University of Miami and earned her MBA at Appalachian State University. Follow me @katmAVL
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