TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A number of impressive individuals will be stopping by Indiana State University this year as part of the organization’s continuing Speaker Series.
The series begins on September 12 with award-winning author Emily St. John Mandel. Mandel has written multiple novels over her career. Her novel Station Eleven would go on to win the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award, The Toronto Book Award, and the Morning News Tournament of Books as well as being adapted into a limited series for HBO.
On November 28, Poet Laureate Billy Collins will speak. Collins has published 12 collections of poetry over his career. Legendary American singer Paul Simon said on Collins’ latest work, “The poetry of Billy Collins has a kindness that glitters with hard truth, and in Musical Tables he gives us a book of short, witty, often luminous snapshots of our sad and funny world.”
February is Black History Month and will see Imani Perry speak on the first of the month.
“Perry’s work reflects the deeply complex history of Black thought, art, and imagination. It is also formed by her background as a legal historian and her understanding of the racial inequality embedded in American law,” an ISU news release reads.
Perry’s latest book won the National Book Award for nonfiction, it’s titled South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation.
The finale of the season will be provided by Bob Woodruff on March 19. Woodruff is a news reporter for ABC News. His speaking will be part of the Jamal Khashoggi Annual Address on Journalism and the Media. Woodruff was in a vehicle hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006 that would keep him off the air as he healed. An hour-long primetime documentary chronicled his traumatic brain injury and the recovery process while shining a light on the plight of thousands of service members dealing with similar injuries. Woodruff continues to cover brain injuries for ABC News and was given a Peabody Award in 2008 for his reporting on the topic.
Each event in the ISU 2023-2024 speaker series begins at 7 p.m. in Tilson Auditorium and is free and open to the public.
For more information visit the Hulman Center website here.
