EUGENE–Barry Lopez, winner of the National Book Award for "Arctic Dreams" and acclaimed author of 12 other works of fiction and nonfiction, will present the University of Oregon Creative Writing Program’s annual Walter and Nancy Kidd Reading on Thursday, May 18.

The reading, which will begin at 8 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St. on the UO campus, is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow.

Winners of this year’s Kidd prizes in both fiction and poetry will be announced during the reading. Lopez served as judge for the fiction prizes, while poet Maggie Anderson, author of three books of poetry and a creative writing teacher at Kent State University, judged the poetry prizes.

Lopez, who has been described as a "rare writer whose every book is an event for both critics and his devoted readership," has established himself as a writer of keen moral intelligence throughout 30 years of writing. His nonfiction books and collections are lauded for their "fresh insight and luminous, precise prose," while at the same time critics and readers praise his fiction for its "engrossing observations on the beauty of the world."

His most recent collection of short stories, "Light Action in the Caribbean," is scheduled for release in November 2000. The book has already been hailed by Russell Banks as "superb, laconic, tough-minded, emotionally turbulent, and always intelligent."

The Kirkus Review recently wrote that Lopez "ventures forth, hunts and gathers the sacred twinings of humanity and nature, and returns with stories as venerable as the best folktales." New York Times reviewer Sara Wheeler wrote that "Next to Lopez and a handful of other writers struggling to find meaning in a world gone wrong, the rest of us seem like pale shadows."

The UO Creative Writing Program gives the Kidd awards annually for outstanding creative work submitted by UO undergraduates. They are meant to encourage and celebrate emerging young writers on campus.

The Walter and Nancy Kidd Tutorial is a year-long, intensive creative writing program designed to help advanced undergraduate writers develop creative writing projects based on their own aesthetic concerns and interests. Six or fewer students work in tutorial sections under the guidance of graduate creative writers. Applications for the 2000-2001 tutorial are due May 19.

For more information, call the UO Creative Writing Program, (541) 346-0544.

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