Leading American Writer to Speak on Fiction as Knowledge
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2004
CONTACT: Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Leading American Writer to Speak on Fiction as Knowledge
Richard Powers, President’s Visiting Scholar, will present “Fiction as Knowledge” on Tuesday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. in PAC 135, California State University, Chico. A reception will follow in Trinity 100. Both events are free and open to the public.
Powers is the author of seven novels, including “The Gold Bug Variations” (1991), “Operation Wandering Soul” (1992) and “The Time of Our Singing” (2004). He has been a finalist for the National Book Award (for “Operation Wandering Soul”) and four times a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Powers’ work is characterized by themes drawn from biology, computer science, cybernetics and cognitive science.
He was named in 1996 to the University of Illinois’ endowed Swanlund Chair in English and appointed to the Center for Advanced Study in 1999. Powers teaches a graduate seminar in multimedia authoring and an undergraduate course in the mechanics of narrative.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998. Powers has been awarded a MacArthur Fellow (1989) and is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award (1999). In that same year, he was named one of five “Writers of the Decade” by Esquire magazine. He has received the Corrington Award for Literary Excellence and the Dos Passos Prize for Literature.
Powers will also be a guest of Writer’s Voice, Wednesday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m., in Trinity 100. He will read from one of his recent works and answer questions. Powers’ visit is sponsored by the Humanities Center, with support from the Writer’s Voice Series.
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