News
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Alex Kotlowitz to Speak
On Monday, November 2, 2009 at 7:00 pm in Northside 158, author Alex Kotlowitz will be discussing his book, There Are No Children Here, in a talk titled “The Things They Carry: Growing Up Poor in the World’s Wealthiest Nation.” This event is sponsored by the Campus Theme, One Book One Campus, the Schurz Library Speaker Series, and a number of campus departments. A book signing will follow the talk.
Kotlowitz grew up in New York City. He has produced for The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour and reported for NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. From 1984 to 1993, he was a staff writer at The Wall Street Journal, writing on urban affairs and social policy. His journalism honors include the George Foster Peabody Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award. He is the recipient of three honorary degrees and the John LaFarge Memorial Award for Interracial Justice given by New York’s Catholic Interracial Council. Kotlowitz has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and public radio’s This American Life. Over the past three years, he has produced three collections of personal narratives for Chicago Public Radio: Stories of Home, Love Stories and Stories of Money. He is a writer-in-residence at Northwestern University where he teaches every winter, and a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame as the Welch Chair in American Studies where he teaches every fall. He has also been a writer-in-residence at the University of Chicago.
Kotlowitz’s second book, The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death and America’s Dilemma, focused on the death of Eric McGinnis, a black teenager from Benton Harbor, Michigan and the strained relations that developed between the residents of Benton Harbor and nearby St. Joseph as the investigation proceeded into his death. The New York Times wrote: “Of all the many books written about race in America in the past couple of years, none has been quite like The Other Side of the River....it is the difference between the two towns, one white, one black, that anchors this story, give it its soul, and makes it important, essential even, for the rest of us to contemplate.” The book received The Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize for Non-Fiction and the Great Lakes Booksellers Award for Non-Fiction.
For more information about this event, contact Dr. Steven Gerencser (574-520-4514) or Nancy Botkin (574-520-4886), the coordinators of the Campus Theme or go to the following website: Campus Theme
