January 2008

The world according to John Irving

Novelist John Irving won't be holed up at the Hotel New Hampshire the night of Thursday, Jan. 17. He'll be farther south, reading at UNCG.

The reading begins at 8 p.m. in Elliott University Center Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Irving was born in New Hampshire and wrote “The World According to Garp” in 1978, establishing him as one of America's most inventive novelists.

During the 1980s Irving wrote “The Hotel New Hampshire,” “The Cider House Rules” and “A Prayer for Owen Meany.” In these novels his originality and striking vision came to the fore, along with his trademark subjects — feminism, religion, wrestling, sex and New England life.

More recent novels include the complex bestseller “A Son of the Circus,” the dark and funny novel “A Widow for One Year” and “The Fourth Hand,” a black comedy.

Several of Irving's novels have been made into films. In 2000 he won an Oscar for the screenplay to “The Cider House Rules.”

For more information, contact Terry Kennedy at (336) 334-5459 or terry_kennedy@uncg.edu.