ALEX KOTLOWITZ, CWA Writer in Residence,
Reads from Various Works        

ALEX KOTLOWITZ is the CWA Writer in Residence for Winter Quarter 2010. He is the award-winning author of There Are No Children Here, The Other Side of the River, and Never a City So Real.  He is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and public radio’s This American Life, Alex Kotlowitz is renowned for his narratives of particular individuals whose concrete life experiences illuminate broad aspects of our nation’s social and political landscape.

After his reading there will Q&A, plus a book signing. 

Our Series FROM BLOG TO BOOK with Robyn Okrant              

Okrant discusses the journey of her blog becoming a
book and gives a reading from Living Oprah:
My One-Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk 

What happens when a thirty-five-year-old average American woman spends one year following every piece of Oprah Winfrey's advice on how to "live your best life?" Robyn Okrant devoted 2008 to adhering to all of Oprah's suggestions and guidance delivered via her television show, her Web site, and her magazine. LIVING OPRAH is a month-by-month account of that year. Some of the challenges included enrollment in Oprah's Best Life Challenge for physical fitness and weight control, living vegan, and participating in Oprah's Book Club. After 365 days of LIVING OPRAH, Okrant reflects on the rewards won and lessons learned as well as the tolls exacted by the experiment. Okrant is the author of LIVING OPRAH: My One-Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk, which Center Street/Hachette will publish in January 2010. Learn more about her at www.robynokrant.com.

Robyn Okrant is a writer, director, performer, and yoga teacher. She has created, written and directed many original pieces: from traditional stage plays, to solo performances, to sketch comedy, to improvised full-length plays, and most recently, short films. Robyn graduated from Bennington College in Vermont and holds an MFA in performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Robyn has appeared on the Today Show, CNBC’s The Oprah Effect, and NPR’s All Things Considered. She’s also been featured in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago SunTimes and has been seen in Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, USAToday.com, Salon.com, and The Huffington Post. Her blog, www.livingoprah.com is read by an international audience and has been visited by over a half a million people.

After her reading there will Q&A, plus a book signing. 

Ta-Nehisi Coates: Reporting on the
New American Reality    

Please join us for a lively discussion with Ta-Nehisi Coates, contributor to The Atlantic and the New Yorker, former staff writer for the Village Voice, and author of The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons and an Unlikely Road to Fatherhood.  For more details contact Stacy Oliver at 847-467-4099.

This program is part of the Literary Journalism Seminar and its Literature of Fact Series of lectures sponsored by Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, The Center for the Writing Arts,Communications Residential College, and the Alumnae of NU.

David Carr: Reporting on
the Media Madness  

Please join us for a lively discussion with special guest David Carr, New York Times media columnist, writer of the NY Times "Carpetbagger" blog, and author of a powerful autobiography, The Night of The Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life--His Own.

This program is part of the Literary Journalism Seminar and its Literature of Fact Series of lectures sponsored by Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, The Center for the Writing Arts,Communications Residential College, and the Alumnae of NU.

A Public Conversation about Non-Fiction and Film: Where the Arts Meet, with writer Alex Kotlowitz and film-maker Steve James

Alex Kotlowitz is the CWA Writer in Residence for Winter Quarter 2010. He is the award-winning author of There Are No Children Here, The Other Side of the River, and Never a City So Real. He is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and public radio’s This American Life, Alex Kotlowitz is renowned for his narratives of particular individuals whose concrete life experiences illuminate broad aspects of our nation’s social and political landscape.

Steve James is the director of Hoop Dreams. It follows the story of two Chicago, Illinois high school students and their dream of becoming professional basketball players. Originally intended to be a 30-minute short produced for the Public Broadcasting Service, it eventually led to 5 years of filming and 250 hours of footage. It premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. Hoop Dreams received an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing.