March 21: 33rd annual Over and Under 5K Tunnel Run and Heart Health Expo (Houma)
March 9, 2009March 12
March 12, 2009Author, essayist and professor Sam Pickering kicks off the Fletcher Lecture Series at Nicholls State University Thursday.
A professor at the University of Connecticut, Pickering was the inspiration for Robin William’s character in “Dead Poets Society.” His presentation, titled “Seeing Things,” begins at 6 p.m. at Peltier Auditorium.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Pickering is a 30-year veteran of the University of Connecticut and has written for the Sewanee Review since 1972. He has published 21 books, including academic studies, travel books and collections of essays. He also held Fulbright lectureships in Jordan in 1975-76 and in Syria in 1980-81.
“Life has always seemed unendingly rich with stories,” Pickering said. “Or at least, I find myself unaccountably in story after story day after day. Perhaps this is because words are the roots, trunk, branches, buds, blooms, and leaves of my world.”
His most recent books are “Edinburgh Days,” an account of months spent in Scotland, and “Autumn Spring,” a collection of essays. Pickering is now working on “A Tramp’s Wallet,” an account of months spent wandering in Australia and New Zealand.
The Fletcher Lecture Series, named after former Nicholls department head Marie Fletcher, brings noted scholars and writers to Nicholls each year. Past presenters include Robert Penn Warren, Ernest Gaines, Maxine Hong Kingston and Henry Louis Gates.
