February 11, 2008
Lyon College News Bureau
Heasley Prize winner Lewis Nordan
to visit campus March 11 for reading
Lewis Nordan, winner of the 2008 Leila Lenore Heasley Prize, will visit Lyon College March 11 for two events. He will participate in a "Writer's Life" interview at 11 a.m. that day in Bevens Music Room. At 7:30 p.m., he will read from his work, also in Bevens. A book signing will follow.
Both events are free and open to the public.
Nordan, a novelist and short-story writer, is the author of eight books: seven volumes of fiction plus what the author calls a "fictional memoir." His many awards include three American Library Association Notable Book citations, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for fiction, the Mississippi Authors Award for fiction, and the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.
Of his award-winning novel, "Wolf Whistle," based on the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black youth lynched for whistling at a white woman, the Library Journal wrote: "Nordan displays some of Faulkner's lyricism and Flannery O'Connor's surreal humor but emerges as a unique and powerful Southern storyteller in his own right."
Until his recent retirement, Nordan was the Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Leila Lenore Heasley Prize is awarded annually to a distinguished representative of American or international letters, theater or cinema. Each spring, the Heasley Prize recipient gives a free public lecture, reading or performance at Lyon College.
Dr. Martha Heasley Cox '38, professor emerita of English at San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif., established the prize in 1995 in memory of her sister, Leila Lenore, and in honor of other family members. The award recognizes the strong affiliation between the Heasley family, the city of Batesville, and Lyon College.
Lewis Nordan