On Saturday, March 27, 2010, the Departments of English and Classics and the Center for Literary and Comparative Studies of the University of Maryland, College Park, The Thornton Wilder Society, and The Classical Association of the Atlantic States will sponsor A Colloquium on the Fiction of Thornton Wilder. The occasion marks the publication by the Library of America of Wilder’s first five novels. The participants in the Wilder Colloquium: Jackson Bryer-Co-editor of The Selected Letters of Thornton Wilder; Michael Dirda–Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reviewer ; J. D. McClatchy–Poet, editor of the Library of America volume, and of the Yale Review; Tappan Wilder–Thornton Wilder’s nephew and Literary Executor; Kurt Raaflaub–Emeritus Professor of Classics at Brown University; Penelope Niven–Author of biographies of Carl Sandburg, Edward Steichen, and of a forthcoming biography of Thornton Wilder; Cecelia Tichi–William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, author or editor of eleven books, and 2009 recipient of the Hubbell Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the American Literature Section of the MLA; Christopher Wheatley–Professor of English at Catholic University; Jeremy McCarter–Journalist and author of a recent Newsweek feature article on Wilder. To cap off the event, celebrated actress Rosemary Harris will read from Wilder’s works. The event will be held on the University of Maryland, College Park, campus. For more information, contact Judith P. Hallett at jeph@umd.edu.
