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Writers Jhumpa Lahiri, Ben Fountain to headline Connecticut College´s Klagsbrun Symposium Oct. 19

October 09, 2007

NEW LONDON, Conn. - Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri and fiction writer Ben Fountain will headline the 14th Daniel Klagsbrun Symposium on Writing and Moral Vision at Connecticut College on Friday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. in the John C. Evans Hall of the college´s Cummings Arts Center.

Earlier, they will take part in a discussion, "A Public Conversation on Writing and Moral Vision," with Blanche McCrary Boyd, the Roman S. and Tatiana Weller Professor of English at Connecticut College. The talk will be at 3:30 p.m. in the Ernst Common Room of the college´s Blaustein Humanities Center.

The events are free and open to the public.

Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her debut story collection, "Interpreter of Maladies." Her first novel, "The Namesake," was recently made into a feature-length film and her newest work, "Unaccustomed Earth," is scheduled for publication next spring.

Fountain is the author of "Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories," one of the most celebrated collections of short stories in recent years. He is a former fiction editor of the "Southwest Review," and his fiction has appeared in "Harper´s," "The Paris Review" and "Zoetrope: All Story."

Boyd is the author of "Terminal Velocity," "The Revolution of Little Girls" and "The Redneck Way of Knowledge." She also serves as the Writer in Residence at Connecticut College.

The Daniel Klagsbrun Symposium on Writing and Moral Vision at Connecticut College was established by the parents of Daniel Klagsbrun, a 1986 graduate of the college who died tragically in New York City within days of his 24th birthday. The Klagsbrun family established the symposium to create a positive, living memorial to their son. Since its founding in 1989, the symposium has brought to campus such noted authors as Dorothy Allison, Saul Bellow, Joseph Brodsky, Sandra Cisneros, Michael Cunningham, E.L. Doctorow, Adrienne Rich, Amy Tan and Elie Wiesel.

Among the most selective private liberal arts colleges in the nation, Connecticut College enrolls 1,900 men and women from 41 states, the District of Columbia and 75 countries. The college is known for putting the liberal arts into action through interdisciplinary studies, international programs, funded internships, student-faculty research and service learning. Founded in 1911, the college operates under an 86-year-old honor code. The college is located at 270 Mohegan Ave, New London, about two hours by car from Boston and New York. The 750-acre campus is an arboretum overlooking Long Island Sound. For more information, visit www.connecticutcollege.edu.

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For more information contact: Amy Sullivan (860) 439-2526; amy.sullivan@conncoll.edu