Brazilian author to be program's first writer-in-residence
Milton Hatoum, author of the award-winning novel "Relato de um certo Oriente" ("Tree of the Seventh Heaven") will present two talks this month as a writer-in-residence at the University. His visit is cosponsored by the Yale Portuguese program and the Ministry of Culture of Brazil, which recently selected Yale as one of six American universities to receive an annual writer-in-residence.
Mr. Hatoum's first talk, "Memories of Amazonia," will take place on Tuesday,
Oct. 21, at 4 p.m. in the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. On Tuesday, Oct. 28, he will discuss "Representations of Amazonia" (with slides and video) with Pedro Maligo, a professor at Michigan State University, at 12:30 p.m. in Rm. 410 of Shef-field-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, corner of Grove and Prospect streets. This talk is offered as part of the Latin American Studies interdisciplinary lecture series. Both events are free and open to the public.
Mr. Hatoum's novel "The Tree of the Seventh Heaven" tells the story of the difficult adaptation of a generation of Arabic-speaking immigrants from Lebanon to the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus. The work won the Comcanhia das Letras prize in Brazil in 1989 and the Jabuti prize for best novel in 1990. Mr. Hatoum, who was born in Manaus, has also written poetry and authored a book of essays on literature and memory. He is currently professor of French literature at the Universidade do Amazonas.
Authors to reflect on their years growing up in the South
Authors Eugene Dattel '66 and Clifton Taulbert will share their distinct but parallel stories of growing up in the Mississippi Delta of the 1950s -- one as a Jew and the other as an African American -- on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Joseph Slifka Center, 80 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public.
Mr. Taulbert is the author of "When We Were Colored" (1989), a portrayal of the African-American community in Glen Allen, Mississippi. The memoir was made into the 1996 motion picture "Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored." Mr. Taulbert is also author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated "On the Last Train North" and most recently, "Watching Our Crops Come In."
Mr. Dattel grew up in Ruleville, Mississippi, and has maintained a life-long interest in the study of southern, racial and comparative history. He is the author of "The Sun That Never Rose" (1994), which investigates the economics and culture of Japan.
For more information, call 432-1134.
Long Wharf Theatre director to read works by Irish writers
Doug Hughes, the newly appointed artistic director of the Long Wharf Theatre, will present a reading titled "Beckett and Synge: The Irish Gift for Loneliness" on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 5 p.m. at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St. His reading, which is free and open to the public, is being offered in conjunction with the center's current exhibition "Irish Paintings from the Collection of Brian P. Burns."
Before coming to the Long Wharf Theatre, Mr. Hughes was director of artistic planning at The Guthrie Theater. He previously served as associate artistic director of the Seattle Repertory Theatre 1984-96, where he was also director of the New Play Workshop Series. While he was there, he directed over 30 productions, including the world premiere of Joe Sutton's "Voir Dire" and a production of "Waiting for Godot" starring Bill Irwin and Stephen Spinella. His recent work as director includes the world premiere of David Rabe's "A Question of Mercy" for the New York Theatre Workshop and "Henry V" for the New York Shakespeare Festival's Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. He is the recipient of a 1996 Obie Award and a Drama Desk nomination for his Manhattan Class Company production of Tim Blake Nelson's "The Grey Zone."
Psychiatrist featured as speaker at two campus events
Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, author of the best-selling book "An Unquiet Mind" and a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will speak at two campus events this week. On Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 4:15 p.m., she will be the guest at a tea in the Calhoun College master's house, 434 College St. Cosponsored by Calhoun and Trumbull colleges, the free event is open to Yale students only.
The following day, Dr. Jamison will present the McGovern Lecture at 5 p.m. in the Beaumont Room of the School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. In her talk, titled "Moods," Dr. Jamison will discuss the role of moods and mood disorders in the lives of artists and writers, as well as the role of extreme emotional states and suffering in the life experiences of doctors and other clinicians. She will also relate her personal and professional experiences with manic-depressive illness. This event, sponsored by the Program for Humanities in Medicine, is free and open to the public.
"An Unquiet Mind" is Dr. Jamison's memoir about her own manic-depressive disorder. The best-selling book, which is currently under development as a feature film, received a 1995-96 Critics' Choice Award and was selected by several newspapers as one of the best books of 1995. Dr. Jamison is also the author of an award-winning standard medical text on manic-depressive illness and of "Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament."
Fresh water is topic of talk by environmental studies scholar
Peter H. Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security, will discuss "Fresh Water in the 21st Century" on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m. in the auditorium of Kline Geology Laboratory, 210 Whitney Ave. Sponsored by the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, the event is free and open to the public.
The Pacific Institute is an independent, nonprofit center created in 1987 to do research and policy analysis in the areas of environment, sustainable development and international security. Prior to becoming the director of the institute, Mr. Gleick served as deputy assistant for energy, environment and arms control to former Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California. He serves on the Science and International Security Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Scientific Advisory Group of the President's Commission on Sustainable Development. The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Grant in Peace and International Cooperation, Mr. Gleick has published extensively on climatic change, water resources and environmental policy.
Noted pianist will perform as a guest at master's tea
British pianist Stephen Hough will perform excerpts from his current recital program on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 4:30 p.m. in the Calhoun College master's house,
434 College St. Following his performance, Mr. Hough will answer questions from members of the audience. The event is free and the public is welcome.
Mr. Hough won first prize in the 1983 Naumburg Piano Competition and has since performed with major orchestras throughout Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia. His recordings include two Hummel concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra, which won Gramophone's Concerto Recording of the Year Award in 1987, and a recording of Sauer and Scharwenka concertos, which won Gramophone's Record of the Year in 1996. His other recordings include works by Liszt, Schumann, Britten, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Franck and Mompou, among other composers.
Zero to Three director to speak at the Bush Center
Matthew Melmed, executive director of the organization Zero to Three in Washington, D.C, will speak on Friday, Oct. 24, at noon in the weekly lecture series sponsored by the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy. His talk, "What Science Tells Us About Investing in the First Three Years of Life," will be held in the lecture hall of Sterling Memorial Library, 120 Wall St. It is free and open to the public.
Zero to Three, formerly known as the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, was established 20 years ago to promote the healthy emotional, social and intellectual development of children during the first three years of life. In the time since Mr. Melmed became its leader in 1994, the organization has established the Early Head Start National Resource Center for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It has also initiated a national public awareness campaign aimed at parents, as well as the Business Leaders for Babies Alliance, an effort to involve the business community in early childhood issues.
Before taking the helm at Zero to Three, Mr. Melmed was executive director of the Connecticut Association for Human Services in Hartford for 13 years. Also an attorney, he serves as vice chair of the board of directors of the Food Research and Action Center in Washington, D.C.
For further information, call 432-9935.
Award-winning writer to discuss her recently published novel
Blanche McCrary Boyd, a professor of English and writer-in-residence at Connecticut College, will present a reading and discussion titled "Illegitimate Fictions/
'Terminal Velocity'" on Monday, Oct. 27, at4 p.m. in Rm. 309 of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Women's Studies Program and the Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies as part of its Writers and Artists Series.
Ms. Boyd is the author of a book of essays titled "The Redneck Way of Knowledge" and the best-selling novel "The Revolution of Little Girls," which won a Lambda Literary Award in 1992. Ms. Boyd's newest work, "Terminal Velocity," was described by Publishers Weekly as "a rollicking, kaleidoscopic trip through the drug-tinged lesbian-feminist counterculture of the 1970s."
Born in South Carolina, Ms. Boyd won a Stegner Fellowship for graduate study in creative writing at Stanford University when she was 22 years old. In the 1970s, she divorced her husband and joined a radical lesbian commune in Massachusetts. Her first novel, "Nerves," was published in 1972.
Renewing compassion is topic of talk by journalism professor
"The Stingy Welfare State and the Renewal of American Compassion" is the title of a talk being given on Friday, Oct. 24, by Marvin Olasky '71, professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. His talk will begin at noon in the first-floor conference room of the Program on Non-Profit Organizations (PONPO), 88 Trumbull St. The event is free and open to the public; however, as seating is limited, those interested in attending should call Karen Refsbeck at 432-2121 to reserve a seat.
Professor Olasky will also be a guest that day at a tea at 4 p.m. in the Berkeley College master's house, 125 High St. The public is invited to attend, free of charge.
Professor Olasky advocates reforming the welfare system and creating alternative ways of meeting human needs. He claims that misguided government and charity programs have harmed American society, and argues that the solution to helping those in need lies in religious values, faith-based action and faith communities. He is the author of nine books, including "Patterns of Corporate Philanthropy: Funding False Compassion," "The Tragedy of American Compassion," "Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America" and "Renewing American Compassion: How compassion for the needy can turn ordinary citizens into heroes."
Professor Olasky's talk is sponsored by PONPO, the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, the departments of religious studies and sociology and the Divinity School. Advance copies of his talk will be available by calling Karen Refsbeck at 432-2121 at least one week in advance.
Israeli television journalist to speak at Slifka Center
Rafik Halabi, one of Israel's most well-known television reporters, will speak on Friday, Oct. 24, at 8:30 p.m. at the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, 80 Wall St. His talk, titled "Moving Towards Coexistence in Israel: Reflections of an Arab-Israeli Television Journalist," is sponsored by The Abraham Fund, the Blaustein Foundation Friday Night Forum Endowment at Yale Hillel and the Connecticut Coalition of Arabs and Jews for Peace. Alan B. Slifka, chair of the board of The Abraham Fund, will introduce Mr. Halabi. The talk is free and open to the public.
Mr. Halabi, an Israeli citizen of Arab parentage, has served as a journalist for Israeli television since 1974, and is currently the director of the country's Channel 1 News. Covering what Newsweek calls "one of the toughest beats in the world," Mr. Halabi reports on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and is noted for his balanced reporting on Israeli/Palestinian issues. While gaining the respect of some Israeli citizens, his reporting has also outraged others. Mr. Halabi is author of "The West Bank Story" and a forthcoming book on the Israeli political situation called "Roadblock."
For more information, call 432-1134.
Editor of book review journal to give informal talk
Ferdinand Mount, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, will give an informal talk titled "The Journal and the Academy" on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 4:30 p.m. in
Rm. 208 of the Whitney Humanities Center (WHC), 53 Wall St. The talk will be followed by a discussion and a reception in honor of Mr. Mount. The event, sponsored by the WHC, is free and open to the public.
Mr. Mount became editor of the Times Literary Supplement -- considered by many to be the world's leading book review journal -- in 1991. He previously worked for The Sunday Telegraph, The Daily Sketch, National Review, The Daily Mail and The Times, and was a political columnist for The Spectator, The Standard and The Daily Telegraph. He is the author of seven novels, including "Very Like a Whale" and "Of Love and Asthma," and of nonfiction works such as "The Practice of Liberty," "The Subversive Family" and "The British Constitution Now."