August 31, 1999
LAWRENCE -- John Kessel, acclaimed science-fiction writer and professor of American literature and fiction writing at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, will be visiting the University of Kansas Sept. 16 and 17.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, Kessel, a KU graduate, will give a public reading in the English Room of the Kansas Union. The selection will be a new story titled "The Juniper Tree" and a question-and-answer session will follow. This event is free and open to the public.
At 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 17, there will be a colloquium in the Hall Center Conference Room. Kessel's remarks, "Hyperbolic Slang, Maudin Sentimentalism, and Tragicomic Bubble and Squeak," will engage participants in a discussion of contemporary science fiction, with reference to his own work. Please contact Giselle Anatol, Assistant Professor of English, at (785) 864-2530 or ganatol@falcon.cc.ukans.edu to register or for more information on Kessel's visit.
Kessel's stories have appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omni and Asimov's magazines. In 1982, his novella "Another Orphan" received the prestigious Nebula Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, and "Good News from Outer Space" was a finalist for the 1989 Nebula. Kessel's most recent novel, "Corrupting Dr. Nice," has been praised as "the best time-travel novel ever written." Also an accomplished playwright, Kessel won the 1994 Paul Green Playwright's Competition for his play "Faustfeathers."