Lectures on Steinbeck

Robert DeMott, a noted scholar on the works of John Steinbeck, will give a series of lectures on April 24 and 25 in Galesburg, in conjunction with the Sandburg Days Festival and The Big Read, a community-wide reading program.

On Tuesday, April 24, DeMott will speak at 12 noon at Carl Sandburg College, and at 4 p.m., in the Alumni Room of Old Main at Knox College. He also will speak at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 25 in the Galesburg Public Library. The talks are free and open to the public.

DeMott is one of the nation's foremost scholars on John Steinbeck and Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath," which is the focus of The Big Read events in the Galesburg area this spring.

Winner of the 2006 Trustee's Award from the National Steinbeck Center, DeMott is the Edwin and Ruth Kennedy Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Writing at Ohio University. He has written numerous books on Steinbeck and American literature, as well as two collections of poetry. DeMott also wrote the introduction and study notes in the edition of "The Grapes of Wrath" that was distributed by the Sandburg Days Festival for The Big Read.

The Sandburg Days Festival is an annual celebration in Galesburg of the life and works of Galesburg native Carl Sandburg, renowned for his poetry, fiction and non-fiction. The Big Read is a national program that promotes community-wide reading of classic works in American literature.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 45 states and 44 nations. Knox's 'Old Main' is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.