Visiting Writer, Blogger, Public Radio Commentator to Read on 10/15

Writer Ken Smith will be on campus to read from his work and be interviewed by Jeff Friedman (English) and the audience on Thursday, October 15, at 4 p.m. in the Mountain View Room of the Student Center. The interview will focus on radio essays, blogging, and other new short experimental forms.

Smith is associate professor of English at Indiana University South Bend, where he also serves as director of the Master of Liberal Studies Program for the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs. He edits _Confluence: The Journal of Graduate Liberal Studies, _and writes commentaries for WVPE, the NPR affiliate station in northern Indiana. He is a founding member of the Michiana Chronicles series, which started broadcasting in 2001 and which was given an Edward R. Murrow award for commentary in 2007. Six of the writers from the series have published their work in And Now, Michiana Chronicles, an anthology of commentaries broadcast on WVPE. He is also the founder and head of Indiana University South Bend’s Wolfson Press, a new university press that focuses on books about the history and culture of the region. He edits and coordinates the university’s political blog, and for several years maintained a blog about web publishing called Weblogs in Higher Education. He teaches courses in writing, creative writing, and the new web media genres of active citizenship.