Acclaimed author Ann Beattie and nationally recognized painter Lincoln Perry will be the keynote speakers of the first John Updike Society Conference held Oct. 1-3, 2010, at Alvernia University in Reading, Pa., John Updike's birthplace. The biennial international conference celebrates the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and his work, an honor reserved for the most revered authors. This first conference is devoted to Updike's masterwork, Rabbit, Run, which marks its 50th publishing anniversary in 2010.
The keynote presentations, as well as panels featuring Updike family members and classmates, will be free and open to the public. John Updike Society members will also be treated to academic sessions featuring papers by 24 scholars from seven countries; and area tours related to Updike's life and literature.
Beattie is the author of more than a dozen novels and short story collections. Her story, Janus, was selected by Updike to be included in his Best American Short Stories of the Century collection. Updike once wrote: "Miss Beattie's power and influence ... arise from her seemingly restless immersion in the stoic bewilderment of a generation without a cause." Beattie will talk about Updike's short fiction from the perspective of a short story writer. Perry has exhibited 20 paintings inspired by Updike's Rabbit collection. His work has been featured in both solo and group exhibition around the country. He is a Distinguished Visiting Artist at the University of Virginia.
The first John Updike Conference uses the Berks County, Pa., area where Updike spent his youth as a backdrop for the gathering of scholars, critics, and enthusiasts who will share recent research and critical studies of the author's work. Born in Reading, Updike was raised in Shillington for the first 13 years of his life, and lived on the family farm in Plowville until he left to attend college at Harvard, spending three summers working as a copy boy for the Reading Eagle. His novel Rabbit, Run, which gave readers the iconic character Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, is set in Brewer, a fictional town based on Reading.
The John Updike Society, which formed shortly after Updike's Jan. 27, 2009 death, has members from around the world including scholars, professors, college students, high school and middle school teachers, book collectors, and the "just plain readers" Updike had in mind when he wrote his novels. Its mission is to promote awareness of John Updike's works. Alvernia University is a private, Franciscan liberal arts university located in Reading, Pa. It was founded in 1958, the year Updike saw publication of his first book, The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures.
Conference registration is $85/person by July 1; $120/person after. New members are welcome to join the Society for the conference; Society membership is $25/year for regular members and $20/year for retirees and students. For more information about the conference, visit www.alvernia.edu/johnupdike or the Updike Society website for a full list of events and complete bios on keynote speakers.
Contact: James Plath, John Updike Society president,
jplath@iwu.edu, (309) 556-3352.
Brad Drexler, Alvernia University, associate vice president, Marketing and Communications, bradley.drexler@alvernia.edu, (610) 796-8376.
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