Gay Talese to Deliver Ayers Lecture

Gay Talese

The 2007 Harry M. and Edel Y. Ayers Lecture, co-sponsored by Jacksonville State University, the Department of Communication and the Anniston Star, will feature Gay Talese, a journalist and author, as speaker. Talese, a veteran New York Times reporter and co-founder of the 1960s "New Journalism,” will speak at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, 2007, 11th floor of the Houston Cole Library. The title of his speech is, “A Writer’s Life,” which is also the title of one of his books. The public is invited at no charge.

Every spring, Talese serves as a visiting writer at the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. In 1964 Talese wrote a reporter-style, non-fiction book The Bridge depicting the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. To date, his 1966 Esquire Magazine article on Frank Sinatra, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” remains at the upper echelon of influential American magazine articles. Among his many books are Unto the Sons, The Kingdom and the Power, A Writer’s Life, and The Gay Talese Reader.

This year's lecture will be followed by a two-day conference sponsored by the Star, the University of Alabama, and the Knight Foundation. The conference, called the "Knight Fellows Community Journalism Story-telling Conference," will take place at the Zannie Theatre at Buckner Circle in McClellan.

The Ayers Lecture at Jacksonville State University is open to the public. JSU faculty and students can register for the national conference at no cost to them through Kingsley Harbor, head of the JSU Department of Communication at (256) 782-5300. Other journalism professionals, academics and students can register for the conference at a fee online at www.comj.ua.edu or by calling the Administrative Secretary, Carmelita Palmer, at (256) 235-3580. For information about the conference, including how to register, visit www.comj.ua.edu, or call Carmelita Palmer at 256-235-3580, or Kingsley Harbor at (256) 782-5300.

This year’s annual Letter Writer's Banquet, sponsored by the Star, will be held at JSU on Tuesday, March 6, 2007 beginning at 12 noon. Attendance is by invitation only.

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