University Times

Gay Talese — best-selling author, founding father of the New Journalism, and noted clothes-horse — will be the first guest at Pitt's new Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series, Sept. 21 at 8:15 p.m. in 120 David Lawrence Hall.

Talese is the author of "The Kingdom and the Power" (a history of his former employer, The New York Times), "Honor Thy Father" (a look at the Bonanno Mafia family through the experiences of the don's son), "Thy Neighbor's Wife" (a largely personal account of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s), "Fame and Obscurity" (a collection of his articles, including the classic "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," from Esquire and other magazines), "Unto the Sons" (about coming to terms with his Old World father) and, most recently, "Writing Creative Nonfiction: The Literature of Reality," co-written by Barbara Lounsberry.

Talese will read from his works and engage in dialogue with Lee Gutkind, fellow creative nonfictioneer and a Pitt professor of English. The event is free and open to the public.

Prior to the David Lawrence Hall session, Talese will meet with English department students to discuss his work and the craft of nonfiction writing.

That format will characterize the Contemporary Writers Series, said Lynn Emanuel, new director of Pitt's writing program.

"It's not just a reading series, nor is it just a series of classroom visits," she said. "Each of the six featured writers in this series will do a public reading and will meet in special sessions to talk about their work with our undergraduate and graduate English students." Pitt is billing the Contemporary Writers Series as one of the city's three major reading series, the others being the Three Rivers Lecture Series and the International Poetry Forum. For that distinction, the English department is paying a price: $35,000.

"We made a bold move," Emanuel explained. "We gave up a junior faculty position and we're using that money to help bring in a roster of a half-dozen speakers, including some of the most notable writers in American literature." Some additional funding will come from the Asian studies program, the Book Center, the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, the women's studies program and the Wyndham Garden Hotel.

Look for well-crafted prose, stimulating discussion and natty attire during Talese's appearance here, Emanuel said. Among the newspaper and magazine writers who pioneered the New Journalism during the 1960s, Talese is rivaled only by Tom Wolfe in the elegance of his hand-tailored wardrobe.

It won't be difficult picking out Talese from among the English department's faculty and students, Emanuel acknowledged with a laugh.

More substantively, Emanuel said she is looking forward to hearing Talese's take on recent cases at the Atlantic Monthly, the Boston Globe and other publications of reporters inventing dialogue and even characters and incidents.

"Here's a journalist who did so much to break down barriers between fiction and nonfiction, who was one of the first to apply fiction techniques to nonfiction. Now, we're seeing journalism that doesn't seem to make a distinction between fact and fiction," she said.

All public readings in the Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series will begin at 8:15 p.m. In addition to Talese, featured writers will include: Oct. 14 — Maxine Hong Kingston, author of two nonfiction books, "The Woman Warrior: Memoir of a Girlhood Among Ghosts," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, and "China Men," an American Book Award-winner, as well as a novel, "Tripmaster Monkey," winner of a PEN USA West Award in Fiction. 120 David Lawrence Hall.

Nov. 11 — Marita Golden, author of the novels "A Woman's Place," "Long Distance Life" and "The Edge of Heaven"; an autobiography, "Migrations of the Heart," and "Saving Our Sons: Raising Black Children in a Turbulent World." 324 Cathedral of Learning.

Jan. 14 — Mark Doty, author of four collections of poetry, including "My Alexandria," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and his memoir, "Heaven's Coast," which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Nonfiction. 324 Cathedral of Learning.

March 16 — Barry Lopez, contributor to Harper's Magazine and The New York Times and author of "Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape," which won the National Book Award, and "Of Wolves and Men," for which he received the John Burroughs Medal. 324 Cathedral of Learning.

March 30 — Tess Gallagher, author of six books of poetry, including "Moon Crossing Bridge," which won the Most Notable Book Award for Poetry from the American Library Association, and collaborator on the screenplay for Robert Altman's film "Short Cuts." 120 David Lawrence Hall.

— Bruce Steele