KU News Release

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Leonard Pitts Jr. to appear at Dole Institute

Leonard Pitts Jr.

LAWRENCE — Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. will speak Thursday, Oct. 5, at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. The free event will start at 7:30 p.m.

Pitts joined the Miami Herald in 1991 as its pop music critic. Since 1994, he has written a nationally syndicated column on pop culture, social issues and family life. In 2004, Pitts won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

“Pitts is significant because he examines highly emotional political and personal issues and filters them through his reasonable, commonsensible, perspective,” said William Harris, associate professor of English at KU. “His fairness and great good humor appeal to all segments of our society. He has attracted readers of widely diverse backgrounds and opinions, and made them fans of his column.”

Pitts has been honored by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He is a five-time recipient of the National Headliners Award, received the American Society of Newspapers Editors prestigious ASNE Award for Commentary Writing and was named Columnist of the Year in 2002 by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. His book Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood was published in 1999.

His appearance is sponsored by KU’s Department of English, the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Dole Institute.

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