Friday, November 14, 2008

Brookens to host "An Evening with Ray Bradbury"

Brookens Library will host an evening with legendary author Ray Bradbury, via a live satellite interview, beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 19, in Brookens Auditorium. The program and a reception in the PAC restaurant immediately following are free and open to the public.

Bradbury is the author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. From his home in Los Angeles, he will discuss his life and work in a conversation with Dr. Loren Logsdon, professor emeritus of English and Western Civilization & Culture at Eureka College. Logsdon, a friend of Bradbury and an expert on his writing, will open the evening with a short address.

Bradbury is a native of Waukegan, Illinois, and one of 35 Illinois authors whose names are engraved on the fourth floor frieze of the Illinois State Library. Fahrenheit 451 is a cautionary tale about a media-obsessed society where citizens have stopped reading. Some of its themes are censorship, freedom of expression, and the effects of television and technology on society.

The program is part of The Big Read in West Central Illinois. For more information about the program at UIS, contact the office of the dean of Library Instructional Services at 6-6597.