Notre Dame Literary Festival to take place Feb. 8-12

Author: Julie Hail Flory

The University of Notre Dame’s 37th annual Literary Festival, “Reading Between the Lines,” will be held Sunday to Thursday (Feb. 8 to 12) and will feature authors Chuck Klosterman, Jennifer Sands, Jim Shepard, Frances Sherwood, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and Helena Maria Viramontes. Admission is free and a reception will follow each event.p. Formerly the Sophomore Literary Festival, the event has a national reputation for attracting distinguished authors, including past participants Gwendolyn Brooks, Joseph Heller, Ken Kesey, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, Kurt Vonnegut and Tennessee Williams.p. The detailed schedule of readings is as follows:p. Sunday, 4 p.m., Reckers hospitality room ? Reading and discussion group with Viramontes, author of such novels as ?Their Dogs Came with Them," “Under the Feet of Jesus,” and “Paris Rats in E.L.A.” Currently an assistant professor of English at Cornell University, Viramontes’ stories focus on the trials and tribulations of Chicana mothers, wives and daughters.p. Sunday, 7:30 p.m., LaFortune Ballroom ? Lecture by Shepard, whose new novel, “Project X,” was written in the wake of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo., and explores the cultural implications of guns in households and the impact of stress on young children. Shepard, who has previously taught at the University of Michigan and Williams College, is the author of five other novels and two story collections.p. Monday, 7:30 p.m., Oak Room, South Dining Hall ? Presentation by Klosterman, whose works include “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto? and ?Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in North Dakota.” A former newspaper critic, Klosterman has an exhaustive knowledge of pop culture and spins prose out of unlikely subject matter.p. Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Oak Room ? Reading by Valdes-Rodriguez, author of the best-selling novel “The Dirty Girls Social Club,” for which Columbia Pictures has purchased the film rights. Named one of Entertainment Weekly’s breakout stars for 2003, Valdes-Rodriguez was formerly a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.p. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Oak Room ? Reading by Sherwood, whose novels include “Green,” “The Book of Splendor” and “Vindication,” which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1993. A professor of English at Indiana University South Bend, Sherwood also is the author of a collection of short stories, “Everything You’ve Heard is True.”p. Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Room 141, DeBartolo Hall ? Presentation by Sands, author of “A Tempered Faith: Rediscovering Hope in the Ashes of Loss,” which she wrote after her husband, Jim, died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

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