Andrei Codrescu to discuss storytelling and history at library conference

Contact: Paige Wasson


312-280-4393

ALA News Release


For Immediate Release


December 2001

Andrei Codrescu to discuss storytelling and history at library conference

Author and commentator Andrei Codrescu will present the third Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture entitled, "Whose Story is It Anyway: Storytelling and History." The event takes place Saturday, January 19, at 3 p.m., in the Marriott New Orleans Mardi Gras Ballrooms D and E during the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in New Orleans.

Codrescu looks for the unusual in everyday life, often bringing an outsider's perspective to his writings and musings. His probing, thought-provoking commentary is regularly featured on National Public Radio's award-winning newsmagazine
All Things Considered.

Codrescu wrote and starred in
Road Scholar, a Peabody Award-winning film based on his book of the same name. He also is the editor of
Exquisite Corpse, a monthly review of books and ideas.

"Casanova in Bohemia," Codrescu's forthcoming historical novel, will be published by The Free Press in February. Based on the last 13 years of Giacomo Casanova's life, the book attempts to rescue Casanova from the image that is currently attached to his name. Codrescu explores the period of Casanova's life when he wrote his great memoir, "History of my Life," and served as librarian to Count Waldstein at Dux Castle in Bohemia, near Prague. Codrescu will be signing copies of his book following the lecture.

Previous novels by Codrescu, "The Blood Countess" (1995) and "Messiah" (1999), were national bestsellers. Among his other books are: "The Hole in the Flag: An Exile's Tale of Return and Revolution," about the dramatic collapse of Romania's dictatorship in 1989; "Ay, Cuba: a Socio-Erotic Journey," a travelogue of contemporary Cuba; and "Hail, Babylon: Looking at American Cities."

Codrescu has been named the MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University. He also has received the Big Table Poetry Award, the Towson State University Literature Prize, and the General Electric Foundation Poetry Prize. He has been awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships for poetry, editing and radio.

The Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture series is delivered each year at the ALA Midwinter Meeting and honors ALA past president Arthur Curley. Curley served as president of ALA in 1994-1995 and was director of Boston Public Library. The lecture series commemorates his lifelong dedication to the principles of intellectual freedom, public access to information and public advocacy for libraries.

The ALA will welcome more than 10,000 librarians to New Orleans and its Midwinter Meeting, January 18-23.