MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at (847) 491-4890 or at w-leopold@northwestern.edu

March 25, 2002

Nobel Winner Derek Walcott to Speak

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Derek Walcott, the Saint Lucia-born poet and playwright who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992, will present "A Reading with Commentary" at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, at Northwestern University.

Walcott's presentation will take place at the Guild Lounge in Scott Hall, 601 University Place, on the University's Evanston campus. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited.

Walcott, who left Saint Lucia for Jamaica and later Trinidad, published his first book of poetry at age 18. His literary breakthrough came with a collection of poems published in 1962 titled "In A Green Night." Like much of his work, it explored the Caribbean cultural experience.

A long-time professor of creative writing at Boston University, Walcott is best known for "Omeros," a book-length poem that recasts the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" in 20th century Caribbean settings.

He is the author of approximately 30 plays and numerous volumes of poetry. His 1981 "The Fortunate Traveler" explored his own experiences as a black writer in America increasingly estranged from his Caribbean homeland. Walcott received the so-called MacArthur Foundation "genius" award in 1981.

Walcott's presentation is one of the first events in Northwestern's new Classical Traditions Initiative fostering study and teaching of the ancient Greco-Roman world and its traditions in their full diversity. For further information, visit the Kaplan Center for Humanities Web site at http://www.northwestern.edu/humanities or call Kaplan Center at (847) 491-7946.