EUGENE–Authors usually write stories of great heroic battles but seldom live them. An exception to that rule–award-winning author Peter Matthiessen–will deliver the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication’s 1999 Johnston Lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 23, in Room 150 of Columbia Hall, 1215 E. 13th Ave.

In his public speech, "A Writer, the Truth and the Law," Matthiessen will share the story of his legal battle to defend himself and his book, "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse," an investigation of the famous and controversial case of Leonard Peltier. An American Indian Movement leader, Peltier was indicted for murder following a shoot-out with the FBI in 1975.

Shortly after Matthiessen’s book was published in 1983, it was recalled from the stores, and the author became entangled in what became the longest-running literary lawsuit in history. He eventually won the case. Peltier is still behind bars, serving two consecutive life sentences.

Matthiessen is the author of 26 books, both nonfiction and fiction, including the "The Snow Leopard," which won the National Book Award for nonfiction. He is the only writer ever to have been nominated for the National Book Award in both nonfiction and fiction categories. He was nominated for fiction twice, once for "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" and once for "The Tree Where Man Was Born."

Random House is just publishing his latest novel, "Bone By Bone," the third in his Mr. Watson trilogy. His nonfiction articles have been published in The New Yorker, Harper’s, the New York Times Sunday magazine, Newsweek, the New York Review of Books, The Nation and many others.

Matthiessen has traveled extensively–from the Sahara to Siberia, from India to Antarctica–and written about the land and the cultures he encountered.

"He is not an ‘adventurer’ or a traveler writer, but rather a seeker," Lauren Kessler, UO journalism professor and Johnston Lecture coordinator says. "If there is an overarching theme in his work, it is his deep yearning for enlightenment–his readers’ as well as his own."

Matthiessen has been a literary lion for the past 40 years (in fact, he was named "Literary Lion" in 1983 by the New York Public Library), part of the generation that includes William Styron and George Plimpton. He was co-founder of the Paris Review. His first short story was published in Atlantic Monthly in January of 1951 and won the Atlantic Prize for that year.

"Peter is an exceptional man who lives life with intensity and purpose. He is one of the most accomplished American writers alive today," Kessler says. "We are very excited about his visit."

While here, Matthiessen will conduct a three-day writers’ workshop as part of the UO School of Journalism and Communication’s Creative Nonfiction graduate program.

His lecture is made possible by an endowment from the Richard W. Johnston Memorial Project.

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