Pulitzer Prize Writer Edward Jones Reads Work April 17

Pulitzer Prize winning writer Edward P. Jones will offer a reading and commentary April 17 as the 2009 Annie Sonnenblick guest lecturer. The annual lecture series brings distinguished writers to campus to discuss their work and participate in discussion with members of the Wesleyan community.

Widely regarded as one of the nation’s most distinguished contemporary fiction writers, Jones also is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for his novel, The Known World, an epic story examining the complexities of slavery. The novel won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Edward P. Jones was educated at Holy Cross College and the University of Virginia. His first book, Lost in the City, was originally published in 1992 by William Morrow and short-listed for the National Book Award. A collection of 14 short stories, Lost in the City deals with African American working class and underclass experiences in mid-20th century, inner-city Washington, D.C. In 2004, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.

Jones was the previous keynote speaker at the 51st annual Wesleyan Writers Conference in 2007. He received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Wesleyan in 2005.

The 2009 Annie Sonnenblick lecture was established by Linda Bland Sonnenblick and her husband, Dr. Edmund H. Sonnenblick ’54 and named in memory of their daughter Annie Sonnenblick, a 1980 graduate of Wesleyan. Annie was a sensitive writer whose interests ranged widely in the fields of language, literature, history and architecture. In addition to the lecture, her family has established the Annie Sonnenblick Writing Award in her honor.

Jones will speak at 8 p.m. in the Center for the Arts’ Cinema. The event is open to the public and is free of charge. The talk is also part of Wesleyan’s Distinguished Writers Series.

For more information contact Lucia Pier, Russell House Arts Fellow, at russellhouse@wesleyan.edu or 860-685-3448., or visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/writing/distinguished_writers.