Award-winning poet, journalist/author who covered war in Iraq to speak as part of Literary Reading Series

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An award-winning poet, and a journalist who covered the war in Iraq and authored the acclaimed book “The Good Lieutenant,” are scheduled to speak in October as part of the 2018-19 Purdue University Literary Reading Series.

Mary Leader, professor emerita at Purdue, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 4) in the Krannert Auditorium, Krannert Building, Room 140. She also will host a Q-and-A at 4:30 p.m. in Beering Hall, Room 2290. Both events are free and open to the public.

Leader began writing poems in the midst of a career as a lawyer in her home state of Oklahoma. She holds a Ph.D. in literature from Brandeis University and is currently professor emerita at Purdue University. Winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize and the National Poetry Series, Leader has just published her fourth book of poems, “She Lives There Still” (Shearsman Books, May 2018).

Whitney Terrell, a journalist and author, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 in Krannert Auditorium. He also will host a Q-and-A at 4:30 p.m. in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center, Room B093. Both events are free and open to the public.

Terrell’s novel, “The Good Lieutenant,” was selected as a best book of 2016 by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Refinery 29. It was long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. He is also the author of “The Huntsman,” a New York Times notable book, and “The King of Kings County.” He was an embedded reporter in Iraq during 2006 and 2010 and covered the war for Washington Post Magazine, Slate and NPR. His nonfiction has additionally appeared in The New York Times, Harper's, and The New Republic. He is the co-host of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast at Literary Hub and teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. 

Media contact: Joseph Paul, 765-494-9541, paul102@purdue.edu

Source: Kati Pratt, pratt46@purdue.edu