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WHERE: Lied Center, University of Kansas, Irving Hill Road and Constant Avenue (entrance drives at 15th and Crestline and at 19th Street and Constant Avenue).
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 31.
Doors open at 6 p.m.
Special ceremony, U.S. postal stamp presentation at 7 p.m.
Program begins at 7:10 p.m.
PRESS VOUCHERS REQUIRED: Please come to the University Relations office, 1314 Jayhawk Blvd., or call (785) 864-8853 to arrange to pick up a voucher and press pass BEFORE 5 p.m. Wednesday. At 5:15 p.m. Thursday, vouchers and press passes will be available at the Lied Center from Dori Gerdes near the box office. Please be prepared to present press credentials.
WHAT: A tribute by author Alice Walker to the poet and writer Langston Hughes and a commemorative stamp unveiling.
Before Walker speaks, U.S. Postal Service officials will be onstage for the nation's first ceremonial unveiling of a postage stamp commemorating Hughes. The first issuance of the stamp will be Feb. 2 in Harlem, N.Y., where Hughes lived before his death in 1967.
Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel "The Color Purple" and has written a biography of Langston Hughes. She will read Langston Hughes' poetry and other writings and will comment on Hughes' work and his influence on her own writing. Her appearance is part of the "Langston Hughes: Let America Be America Again" international symposium on the art, life and legacy of Hughes, who was born Feb. 1, 1902, in Joplin, Mo., and spent his early childhood years in Lawrence.
KU's Office of the Chancellor and the Hall Center for the Humanities are sponsoring Walker's appearance.
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Photographs will be permitted during the stamp presentation and during the question-and-answer session following Walker's presenation.
RECORDING EQUIPMENT: After the stamp unveiling neither tape recorders nor video cameras will be permitted in auditorium.
PARKING: No parking is reserved. Please allow time to find a parking place. (This is a free public event. A large attendence is expected.)
NEWS MEDIA SEATING: Reserved seats for the media will be on the left side of the Lied Center in rows J through N near the center cross-aisle. Door 9 is the closest access.
SATELLITE FEED: There will be NO satellite feed of video and sound bites from the lecture.
PRESS PASSES FOR OTHER LANGSTON HUGHES SYMPOSIUM EVENTS: Press passes for all other symposium events, including Danny Glover's "An Evening with Langston" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, at the Lied Center will be available from University Relations from 8 a.m. Monday, Feb. 4, until 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6.
On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8 and 9, media should stop at the symposium registration desk near the Kansas Union ballroom on level 5. University Relations staff will be available to help media locate speakers and symposium staff.
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