Salman Rushdie to deliver premier lecture in ECU series
Sir Salman Rushdie will speak at East Carolina University Oct. 5 as part of the university’s Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series.
Sir Salman Rushdie
Rushdie’s controversial 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” led to violent protests, death threats and a fatwā issued against him by then Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Rushdie spent a decade in hiding as a result. An advocate for freedom of expression, Rushdie is an award-winning author and the distinguished writer in residence in the Department of English at Emory University. He will present “Public Events, Private Lives: Literature and Politics in the Modern World.”
The annual series kicks off Sept. 13 with the Lawrence F. Brewster lecture in history, presented by Dr. David T. Courtwright. Courtwright is the John A. Delaney presidential professor in the Department of History at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville. He will speak on “Sky as Frontier: America’s Air and Space Century.”
Harvard University professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. will speak Nov. 10 on “African-American Lives: Genetics, Genealogy, and Black History.” Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University professor and director of the W.E.B DuBois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard.
North Carolina native Bland Simpson will deliver the Thomas Harriot Lecture Feb. 2, 2012, examining the richness of the culture and environment of the state’s coastal plain. Simpson is the Bowman and Gordon Gray distinguished term professor of English and creative writing at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
The final lecture in the series on March 13, 2012 is the Jarvis Lecture on Christianity and Culture, featuring Dr. J. Kameron Carter, associate professor of theology and Black church studies at Duke University. He will share his knowledge of Black theology.
The Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series is made possible through contributions from Harriot College’s Dean’s Advancement Council, various university organizations, and many friends and supporters. The Gates presentation was jointly sponsored by the ECU Office of Equity, Diversity, and Community Relations; the Office of Student Affairs; the Student Activities Board-Initiatives; the Division of Research and Graduate Studies; and J.Y. Joyner Library. The Carter presentation was co-sponsored by the ECU Religious Studies Program and Jarvis Memorial United Methodist Church.
All lectures begin at 7 p.m. in ECU’s Wright Auditorium. ECU students, faculty and staff may receive complimentary tickets. The general public may attend for a $10 fee, except for the Jarvis Lecture, which is free to all attendees. For tickets, call the ECU Central Ticket Office at 252-328-4788 or 1-800-ECU-ARTS.
Individuals requesting accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should call 252-737-1016 (voice/TTY) at least 48 hours prior to the event.
For additional information, contact Dr. John Tucker, director of the lecture series, at 252-328-1028 or tuckerjo@ecu.edu, or visit http://www.ecu.edu/voyages.