Novelist, Pulitzer Prize Finalist to Speak March 26 at Ohio Wesleyan
Lydia Millet
DELAWARE, Ohio – Novelist and short-story writer Lydia Millet, known for her dark humor, distinctive characters and language, and strong interest in the relationship between humans and other animals, will speak March 26 at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Millet will discuss her works at 7 p.m. March 26 in Gray Chapel in University Hall, 61 S. Sandusky St., Delaware. Her presentation is free and open to the public.
Millet was born in Boston and now lives near Tucson, where she writes and works in wildlife conservation. She won the PEN Center USA award for fiction for her early novel “My Happy Life,” published in 2002. PEN Center USA is a part of PEN International, founded in London in 1921 in the aftermath of World War I. Its founders believed the freedom of the individual writer had to be protected if a worldwide community of letters were to thrive. Years before Amnesty International was founded, PEN International was working for the release of writers around the world who were prisoners of conscience.
In 2010, Millet’s story collection “Love in Infant Monkeys” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2008, 2011, and 2012 she published novels in her critically acclaimed series about extinction and personal loss: “How the Dead Dream,” “Ghost Lights,” and “Magnificence.”
In June, she is scheduled to publish a book for young-adult readers, “Pills and Starships,” described as “an apocalyptic tale of death contracts and climate change set in the ruins of Hawaii.”
Millet’s presentation is part of the Ohio Wesleyan Department of English’s Katherine Kearney Carpenter Lecture Series. The series was established in 1967 by O. William Carpenter in honor of his wife. The series brings distinguished authors to campus each year and features free readings and lectures open to the Ohio Wesleyan community and the public. Former guest lecturers have included Joyce Carol Oates, Kurt Vonnegut, and Dave Eggers.
Learn more about Lydia Millet at www.lydiamillet.net. Learn more about the OWU Department of English and the Katherine Kearney Carpenter Lecture Series at https://www.owu.edu/academics/departments-programs/department-of-english/.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private, coed university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, minors, and concentrations, and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world practice. OWU’s 1,850 students represent 42 states and 37 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.