EUGENE–Peter Coyote, a man who rode through the heart of the 1960s counterculture and became a motion-picture star, will read from his memoir, "Sleeping Where I Fall," on Thursday, Oct. 12, at the University of Oregon campus.

The free public reading, the first in the 2000-2001 UO Program in Creative Writing series, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Room 150 of Columbia Hall, 1215 E. 13th Ave. A book signing will follow.

Coyote, who has performed in more than 50 films, including "E.T.," "Jagged Edge," "Kika," "Outrageous Fortune" and "Patch Adams," chronicles his time in San Francisco’s riotous political street theater in his memoir. He was one of the central forces in the formation of the Diggers, a radical street-theater company that led to the creation of the even more radical Free Family.

"Coyote reflects with maturity on the mistakes he and his peers made," the Washington Post commented and added, "but he affirms that the dream was worth having."

In the preface of his book, Coyote describes his effort to tell a well-rounded story of his years submerged in the counterculture of the West Coast.

"The ideas and moral positions that emerged during this period–the civil rights movement, the peace movement, the ecology movement, feminism, holistic medicine, organic farming, numerous alternative physical and spiritual therapies and disciplines, and perhaps most important, bioregional or watershed political organization–were abetted by agents like the people remembered here: flawed and imperfect people certainly, but genuinely dedicated to creating more enlightened options for themselves and others," he said.

Winner of a Pushcart Prize in nonfiction, Coyote’s writing has been praised for its direct and insightful style.

"To those who know him only as an actor, Peter Coyote’s memoir will come as a bracing surprise," wrote the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle. "To those who knew him in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it will bring back a rush of memory as immediate as yesterday in its detailed account of those tumultuous, exhilarating, and troubled times."

Peter Coyote’s reading is co-sponsored by the Oregon Humanities Center. His interview on the "UO Today" program, an ongoing series highlighting the scholarly pursuits and interests of UO faculty and visiting speakers, will be aired later in the academic year on AT&T cable channels 12 and 97.

The Creative Writing Reading Series continues this fall with poet Michael Collier on Thursday, Oct. 26, and poet/novelist Nicholas Christopher on Thursday, Nov. 9.

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

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