May 13, 2008

Steve Almond, a short-story writer and essayist known for his funny and acerbic public readings, will read and sign books on Friday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alice Peters Auditorium of the University Business Center at California State University, Fresno.

Almond gained notoriety in May 2006 for sending a letter to the Boston Globe announcing his resignation as an adjunct professor at Boston College as a protest of the college’s choice of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as its commencement speaker.

His current collection titled “(Not That You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions,” includes his thoughts on topics ranging from Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club, Fox News, sexual obsessions and fatherhood.

The event is sponsored by the Masters of Fine Arts program in creative writing. Co-sponsors are the Department of English, the Division of Graduate Studies and the College of Arts and Humanities. It is free and open to the public. Free parking will be available in the University Business Center Lot and Lot A.

For more information, contact Rachel Jackson at 278.1569 or rjackson@csufresno.edu.

(Copy by University Communications student-intern Megan Jacobsen.)